Thalia The Hunter
by Jason Strong
Summary: Thalia is a hunter. She has hunter friends...and enemies. But when she finds she must rescue Annabeth, and find her new little brother, what is she to do? She deals with murder, that of hers, and her brother's, who may turn to the Kronos's side.
1. Chapter 1

Some things about being a hunter of Artemis are cool. But others I hate. Like hanging out with a goddess, that's cool. But hanging out with the hunter's themselves, not so great. It's like living in the forrest with four sister's who all just sit around and wait for monsters to attack and complain about men.

"Focus, Thalia." Artemis urged me. I've tried many times but the truth is, I stink at archery. I lowered my bow.

"I can't do it!" I whinned.

"Nonscence!" Artemis snapped. "I never want to hear that word."

_Can't, can't, can't._

"Focus your mind. Be the arrow." said Artemis.

"What?" I asked, lowering my bow. Artemis raised it for me.

"Just try it." Artemis said firmly

Alright. Be the arrow. I pulled back on the string and let go. The arrow whizzed through the air unsteadily, yet it hit the target, right in the middle

"Yes!" I exclaimed, a wave of axcitement and a smile coming upon me.

"I knew you could do it." said Artemis, her twelve year old face giving me a smile.

"Thank you." I told her graciously.

"Don't thank me quite yet." Artemis said pulling my arrow out and sliding the Archery target back about fifteen feet, making it about thirty feet away from me. "Try it now."

I let out a breath to relax me. _Be the arrow._ I let Artemis's words flow through me. I shot the arrow. Again, whizzing through the air unsteadily, it hit the target, not quite as good as the first time, but it did hit the target.

"Not bad." Yelled Artemis, who was standing next to the target. I'm just glad I didn't accidentaly hit her.

The sun was setting over the mountains of Colorado. We were in the woods, clearing the area of any Monster we could find. There are five of us. Right now you're probably saying "There are suposed too be tweleve hunters." well, one day we were going through the forrest, all together, exept for Artemis, who was back at camp, when we were attacked. Honestly I don't remember much, but this thing was huge, about twenty-five feet off the ground. He attacked us, we fought our best, but he was too much for us. He took down most of us, only leaving five of us. The remaining of us thought we were gonners when an arrow flew through the air with the grace of an eagle, striking the monster in his heart, killing him. We turned around too see Artemis, her bow in hand. She explained too us that that was the King of the Giants, Aklyoneus. She also told us he was immortal, but only when he was in his homeland, thankfully, he wasn't. Artemis has been trying to replace the hunters we lost that day, but no one seems interested.

I have two best friends here, Zana and Saeva. Zana is a daughter of Hermes and Saeva is a daughter of Athena. Saeva honestly reminds me so much of Annabeth that I want to leave the Hunters sometimes because I'm homesick.

"Let's head back to the camp." said Artemis. "It's almost dark, we have too go to bed soon."

That's another thing, she makes us go to bed at around sunset, right after dinner and we have to wake up at sunrise. We headed towards the fully set up camp.

"What's for dinner?" I asked Saeva.

"Deer." she said, not even looking up from the skinning she was doing. Now, most people would be disgusted at even the thought of eating a poor little deer, but it's not that bad acually, and most people think Artemis would be a vegetarian. Well she's not. She loves animals but she is the goddess of the hunt. Therefore, she eats meat.

It was repectful to let the goddess eat first, but Artemis didn't like that custom. She says that if we all kill dinner, we take turns getting first serve.

After we all sat down in front of the campfire, we started talking.

"Thalia." said the eldest Hunter, Amity, a daughter of Apollo. (The rest of us are the same age as me) "Tell me more of this pine tree thing. I don't get it."

Zana nodded her head in agreement.

"Well," I started for the second night in a row. "when I was younger, I traveled with Zana's half brother, and Saeva's half sister. We were barley surviving, when we were found by a saytr. He was instructed to lead me to Camp Half-Blood, but I wasn't willing to leave my friends behind. He tried to-"

"Yeah, yeah, just get to the part about the tree so we can hit the sack." interrupted Elana, a daughter of Ares. She had rough, jagged features, much like my half-brother Ares, but there was something soft about her, I... I can't explain it.

"As I was saying-"

"Wait a second. Why were you traveling on foot? Where was your Mom? Getting a bagel?"

I put my hand on the skinning knife.

"None of your bees wax!" I snapped. Bees wax?

"I know the story." Elana said with arrogance. "She was about to die when her Daddy took pitty on her. If you ask me she should have died with honor, like a real hero."

I gripped the skinning knife and stood up.

_"That's it!" _I screamed, runnig at her with the knife. She loaded her bow.

"Stop!" bellowed Artemis, holding me back and yanking the skinning knife from my hand.

"My _daddy_ is your Grandfather, so show some respect!" I barked, letting my rage getting the best of me.

"You're acting like children! Thalia, Saeva and Zana, you're on scout duty until mid night." she said with an edge in her voice. I looked at her hand where the knife was, there was also ichor, the golden blood of the gods.

"Lady Artemis,-" I started apologetically.

"Go!" she said pointing out of the camp.

We walked outside the camp.

"Yeah! That's right!" yelled Elana. "Run! Like you've run away from everything else in your life! Your Mom! Your death and your fate!

I gritted my teeth and kept walking. What is her probelm? I've never done anything too her. What was a daughter of Ares doing as a hunter of Artemis anyway? Ares's daughter's just don't seem like hunter material to me.

"Hush, child." I heard Artemis tell her. I painted my face with a smirk and caught up with my friends.

"Thalia," started Saeva knowingly "you shouldn't give in to her. She's trying to press your buttons."

"Well she's doing a good job at it." I said looking down and kicking a pine cone. I knew she was right, but I just couldn't help it. That girl should show me respect, because, if we were going by family tree, I'd be her aunt.

"Two wrongs don't make a right." said Saeva. I looked into her gray eyes, they seemed too pop with her dark brown hair.

"So?" asked Zana. "at least you get revenge."

"That's a good point" I said looking at her. She looked just like Luke. But of course, in a girls body.

We didn't talk for a while. The point of patrol was to make sure nothing snuck up while the other hunters slept. If we talked, whatever might be out there would hear us.

I had to ask them a question, it couldn't wait.

"Did I run from my fate?" I asked them in a whisper.

"No." said Saeva, glancing nervously at the camp.

"Yes." said Zana

But they said it in unison.

"She did not!" cried Saeva, making an Athena like 'I know everything' face. I hate that look, it's like they're trying too make you feel stupid.

"Yes she did!" replided Zana in a yell.

"Um, guys-" I said, giving a glance back in the direction of camp, which wasn't visable from where we were.

"How so?" asked Saeva, crossing her arms.

"She joined the hunters to get away from it!" yelled Zana.

"Prove it!" asked Saeva in a snide tone.

"Guys!" I screamed.

"Shh, Thalia you're going to wake up the whole forrest." said Zana, then she directed her attention back to Saeva.

"What? Me? You-" I started but was interrupted by a sudden collapsing tree.

"What was that?" Asked Zana.

"That." replied Saeva, pointing in to the distance. I looked in the direction she was pointing, a tree had fallen down.

"Oh." I said "That's okay. At least it wasn't a monster."

"Maybe it was." said Saeva curiosly, looking around me.

"Say what?" asked Zana, her face was turning pale in the moonlight.

"Follow me, and be on your gaurd." said Saeva firmly.

We walked slowly but swiftly through the trees. It was definitly eerie, tonight esspecailly. I hate the dark. It makes me think of my grandfather, Kronos. We made it to the tree in a short period of time. Zana and I kept our bows loaded as Saeva inspected the tree.

"This was pushed over." she told us.

"How do you know?" I asked in a kind of mean tone.

"It's a perfectly healthy tree, there's no way it would have fallen itself."

I nodded my head.

"So what pushed it over?" asked Zana, probably remembering the incident that had occured with the giant-king.

"Well, I'm guessing he did it." I said calmly, pointing at the cyclopes who had not yet seen us. He looked somewhat lost, with an innocent look on his face. but, I knew we had too kill him, if he saw us, we would be in big trouble. We moved into behind a nearby tree, to hide us as we got a closer look and figure out what we were going too do.

"Okay," whispered Saeva. "attack plan beta."

Have you ever noticed all the children of Athena tend to be a tad on the bossy side?

"Gotcha." I said, starting to move, but Zana grabbed my arm.

"Do we have to do beta? I mean it's so-"

"Just go!" ordered Saeva in a hushed tone.

Attack plan beta, is where we surround the monster, without him knowing, and attack him from diffrent angles. This can only work if there are places to hide. Athena came up with this attack. If all of us were here, we would shoot him at the same time. But that wouldn't work here. From the angles we would shoot him here, he wouldn't die, he'd hardly get hurt in fact.

I hid behind a bush. Bow ready. I'm going to be honest, I was scared. Ever since the giant attack, fighting large monsters gave me the chills.

I looked at Saeva, she was behind a tree.I gave her a small wave, letting her know I was ready. She looked at Zana and repeated the signal, Zana gave a nervous nod. Oh gods.

Saeva stood up and gave a battle cry, she shot her bow, the arrow whizzed through the air, landing in the monsters rib. He cried in pain, the he ripped the arrow out of his rib cage and slung it to the ground. He headed in the direction of Saeva. You see, beta is a good attack plan to use on a cyclopes, since he has limited vision. I stood up and shot the monster, the arrow landing in his leg. He didn't even ackowledge that it was there, he kept heading for Saeva.

Once he got there, he stood still, looking for any signs of movement. He didn't know he was almost standing on top of her. Saeva foolishly shifted her weight. The monster picked her up.

"Thalia!" she screamed. But I was to late. He threw her. She was hurled violently towards the tree we were all originally hiding behind.

Zana shot an arrow. It hit him in the gut. He cried out in pain. He ripped a huge branch off of a nearby tree and hurled it in her direction. It hit her, forcing her to the ground. I didn't dare shoot an arrow. I was the last hope to keep this monster from attacking Artemis in her sleep. I felt on the ground for a rock, keeping my eyes on the monster. my hand went over something large. It was a stick, it will have to do. I picked it up and hurled it as far as I could.

"You can run but you can't hide!" he said, running in the direction of the noise. The ground shaking as he ran.

This was it. I searched my specail belt for a vial of poison. My belt was a gift from Artemis, it had many slots on it, to hold vials filled with poison. It was more like a fanny-pack, but It served it's purpose. It was black and had six slots on each side, all were filled was vials full of poison that I could apply to my arrows.

_Be the arrow._

If I missed, I would most likely die. I aimed, for the simple minded cyclopes was still searching for me.

_Be the arrow._

I pulled back on the string.

_Be the arrow._

I let go.

_Be the arrow._

The arrow flew through the air, striking the monster in his chest right as he turned around.

I ran to Saeva. She was knocked- out. She had many scratches on her face, and I'm sure she would have broken bones.

I made my way towards Zana. I pulled the brach that was on top of her and tossed it to the side. It took alot of strengh. She was cut in many diffrent places too. Although, she wasn't as bad a Saeva.

"Nice Job, Thalia." said I voice behind me. I spun around,fast. There, behind me stood Luke, his sword _Backbiter _and a shield.

"Luke." I said flatly.

"In the flesh." he said.

"What do you want?" I asked, taking an arrow from my quiver. But he was fast and had his sword to my neck. A tear slid down my cheek.

"For you to come willingly. But that won't happen. Will it?"

"No." I said firmly.

"I was afraid if that." He said lookng down.

The last thing I remember seeing is his shield racing toward my head.

A/N What do you think? Review.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Thank you for the reviews.

"When she wakes up, send her to me. I have a little... suprise for her." I heard a male voice say. I pretended to be asleep. What should I do? I opened my eyes so very slightly, it looked as if they were still closed. They had me in a dimly lit room with just two tables and a fire place, which was lit. On one table, me. On the toher table, swords. How stupid are these guys? I wasn't strapped down either. The only thing that could stop me from leaving; one gaurd. If I wanted to do this I had to be quick about it.

Quickly, I jumped off the table and onto the floor.

"Hey!" yelled the female gaurd. I reached out for a sword just as she attempted to hit me with hers, I parried it. She was good, but I was better. She was able to block my sword with her shield as I attempted to cut her in the neck, but as she did that I tripped her. As quickly as that happened, I plunged my sword through her chest. Her eyes lost their glow. I kind of felt bad, but I had to do it.

Quickly, I headed for the door.

_I have to find a way out. _I thought to myself as I opened the door. But there, standing in front of me, was Luke. I slashed my sword at him, but he disarmed me. I hate it when he does that!

"Now, now, Thalia." he said, pushing me back into the room I was trying to leave. "Be a good girl while we wait for The Warden."

"I will not!" I shouted "How could you Luke! I thought we were friends. Why did you leave us, leave me..." I said looking down. Luke's expression seemed to lighten. I don't know what I was feeling, sorrow, anger, part of me was happy too see Luke again.

"The gods don't care! they've never cared!" He cried.

"That's not true!" I screamed, he's got it all wrong, doesn't he?

"Oh, yeah? Prove it. Name one Half-Blood you know whose parent acually cares." He said, softer.

"Me." I said sadly "My Father cared. Or he would've let me die." My voice broke as I said this. Sometimes, I feel it's my fault Luke crossed over, I could've been there. I could've helped him.

Luke turned away. The door opened. A huge, bald man came in. I ran to the table and picked up another sword. I pointed it in his direction.

"Calm down." said the man. "We just need a little favor."

"Why would I do you a favor? Who are you anyway?" I asked. Is this guy nuts?

"I'm the warden." said the man. He started walking over to a corner, close to where Luke was standing. He picked up a small box that I didn't notice until then.

"This is why you'll do me a favor." he opened the box. He stuck his meaty hands inside and pulled out a golden thread. He pointed to small Greek letters naturally carved in the string.

"You know what this says?" He asked me.

I shook my head.

"It says Annabeth Chase."

My heart skipped a beat. I suddenly realized what that was. Let's just say, if he cut it, Annabeth will die.

"How did you get that?" I asked with an edge in my voice

"I know a guy." he said.

I looked at Luke, he looked just as shocked as I did. Although it was probably an act.

"Thalia, I didn't know." he said quickly.

"Yeah, right." I said. "Annabeth was your friend!"

"Thalia!" Luke begged. I turned away from him. I looked upon the ugly face of The Warden.

"Silence!" demended The Warden.

Luke looked downward. I'm not sure, but I think I saw tears coming from Luke.

"Luke tells me your a hunter. Is that correct?" The Warden asked.

"Maybe." I said snidely, crossing my arms and leaning against the table.

"Snip, snip." said The Warden.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, that's right."

"Good. Then you shall destroy them. From the inside out."

"What?" I demanded. He wasn't making any since.

"Kill them, all of them, even Artemis." He said

"No! It's not even possible to kill a goddess!" I yelled.

"Oh? Have you ever heard the story about the death of Chiron?" He asked me.

"No." I said, getting the feeling he was about to waste my time woth a pointless story.

"Well, Heracles accidentally injured Chiron in battle. Zeus figured out that it was not going to get better, so, he lifted Chiron's immortality so he could die without having to live in pain forever more. I imagine He'll do the same for Artemis."

I had never heard that story before.

"But he came back, so will Artemis. What do you have against her anyway?"

"Nothing." He repiled plainly. "But we need every force on the oppisite side gone. The hunters included."

"I won't do it." I said.

"You will or Annabeth will die." He threatend, sending chills down my spine. I looked at Luke with a look of disgust on my face.

"Where is she!?" I demanded, keeping my attention on Luke.

The Warden smirked. "In the dungeon."

I can't kill Artemis, Annabeth would understand, right?

"Unless, of course, you join our side." He said.

I thought for a minute...

"Okay, I'll join your side."

A/N WHAT!? is Thalia really a traitor? Tell me what you think in your review. I've been looking at my hits, I have 33 as I rewite this chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N I couldn't resist updating this one again. I usually create original characters, but this time, I wanted to do something diffrent. I'm not doing disclaimers, there's a reason it's called **FanFiction**. You all know who created the characters.

Luke looked at me, his eyes had a small trace of hope in them.

"Really?" he asked

I nodded.

"Well then," said The Warden, shock painting his face. "Follow Luke, he's going to lead you to the Training Arena. There, he will test your strenghts and weaknesses."

"Alright." I said, heading towards the door.

I looked at Luke, who was walking beside me. For the first time since I'd seen him last, he was smiling.

"It's great too have you here, Thalia." he said happily "We can be friends again, right?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." I said.

"Great." He said.

"Yeah." I agreed.

I really missed talking too Luke. I remembered the time I fought him. I had almost killed him.

"Listen, I know your strengh is spears and you weakness is archery but I still have to test you." He said with displeasure.

"Hey!" I protested with a laugh "I've gotten pretty good at archery!"

"Yeah, right." He said giving me a playfull shove.

Just like old times. Almost.

We entered the Training Arena. It was a huge dome with a sheet type roofing, kind of like a circus tent. On the side we entered on, there was a rack with various weapons on it. On the oppisite side, there was a small table. The Arena was so big, I couldn't make out what was on it. Luke lead me down a flight of stairs into the pitt of the Arena.

"We'll start with the Archery." He said. He handed me a bow and arrow.

"Let me get the target, you stand on the other side of the arena." i did as he said. I made it to the other side of the arena by the time he had the target down.

"Whenever you're ready!" He shouted. I loaded the bow.

Be the arrow.

I locked my target. I pulled the string back and let go. The arrow went whizzing through the air. Hitting the target.

"Not bad!" Luke yelled.

"Thanks!" I called back.

"Head back over here!" He shouted. I walked back over there as he retrieved two swords. He handed me one.

"Let's see how you've improved on sword fighting." He said. With that, he stuck at me. I attempted to parry, but he disarmed me almost instanly.

"That was a bust." I said. He nodded his head in agreement.

After trying diffrent weapons, we were down to the spear. He still had his sword, _Backbiter._

"I hope this one is it." he told me. I jabbed at him.

"Hey!" He called

He swung his sword, I dodged it . He lifted his sword over his head and brought it down fast. I held my spear over my head, his sword bounced off it. I used the dull end of my spear to hit him in the ribs. In retalliation, he swung his sword, striking my arm. I cried in pain. I did a jump-kick, hitting him in the stomach. He leaned over for a second, but a second was all I needed. I hit him on the shoulder with the dull end of my spear, causing him to fall over. Once he hit the floor, I had my spear to his neck.

"I think we've found your weapon." He said breathlessly.

"I guess so." I said, moving my spear away from his neck.

"Let's take a break." He said, wiping beads of sweat from his brow.

I nodded in agreement.

He lead me over to the table I mentioned earlier. On the table were two ice cold bottles of water, and my bow and quiver of arrows and my belt with vails of poison. There was also a knife in a case that hooks to your belt, and a jar, about the size f the ones you get grape jelly in, full of some liquid the color of sewer water.

"Luke," I started, looking over the stuff on the tabel "what is this stuff?"

"Well some of it's your's...all of it was going to be your's" He said, then he took a sip of his water "You see that poison right there?" he pointed to the green stuff in the jelly jar "That is the strongest poison ever made. It will kill you on contact."

"Cool." I said, truly amazed.

"Not only that, but it has a reverse effect on the dead. If you pour it on them, just one drop, it will bring them back too life."

"Well," I started, making a puppy-dog face "Can I still have the stuff."

"Sure," he said "if you pass this next test, using a sword."

"You're on." I told him in a very competitive tone.

He pushed a button on his watch and started to talk to it.

"Send in the archers." he demanded.

Archers?

He handed me a Sharpie and a C.D case.

"What am I suposed too do with these?" I asked him.

"Open them." He responded as he started to walk away.

I uncapped the Sharpie, of course, it extended into a sword. then I opened the C.D case., it extended into a sheild. I looked at it, suddenly remembering that I don't need it.

I through the sheild on the ground. My braclet extended into a dupicate of the Aegis shield.

"You ready Thalia?" Luke called.

"As I'll ever be!" I cried back.

"Be on you're gaurd. Try to get too the table... Alive. GO!"

I started to run. Luke had moved the table to the other end of the Arena. I ran towards Luke, who was ready with his sword. I suddenly heard a voice from above me.

_"Fire!"_ yelled an archer from above. I looked up, they had all shot arrows. A volley! I got on my knees and covered my head with my shield. I heard the eerie soounds of arrows bouncing off my shield. When the volley stopped, I began to run again.

This time I made it to Luke without interruption.

I let out the first swing, he side stepped towards my vunerable side. he took a swing but I dodged. I did a quick pivot so that I would be facing him, just in time to block another swing. His sword bounced off my shield making a _Clank! _ I went to stab while I thought he was vunerable, but he wasn't. He quickly doged my stab and slashed at me, leaved a gash in my shoulder.

I don't know if it was the searing pain on my shoulder or what, but I glanced downwards, his legs were spread apart. I got this crazy idea. I slid my foot inbetween his legs, forming a hook around his foot, then I pulled with all my might. He fell to the ground. A look of shock on his face. His sword dropped to the ground, I kicked it clear across The Arena.

I ran to the table and picked up my Belt.

"Very good." said Luke geeting up off the ground.

I looked up, the archers were gone. I picked up the jar and poured the poison in the vile. I leaned agaist the table nonchlantly as I took the knife out of it's case.

"You did good too." I told him as I began stirring the poison with the knife.

"Thanks." he said. I looked across the room, his sword was still all the way across the arena. I put my belt on.

"You're gong to need something too carry the non-magical weapons in he said, opening a supply closet. He pulled out a extremely large hiking backpack and handed it to me. He also handed me some ambrosia. I drank it. My shoulder wound felt better, reducing itslef to only a scab. He was silent as he watched me pack my sword, bow and my quiver in the hiking bag. I began stirring the leftover poison that was in the jar again. It didn't seem to bother him.

"I was thinking about-" his words were cut off by me, I thrust the dagger that I was stirrong the poison with into his arm right below his shoulder.

He began gasping for air, and he fell to the ground. This is how I knew he was about to die.

A/N Haha, Luke died.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N I have to update this one while It think of a prophecy for my other one.

I put my hands over Luke. His body was dead and lifeless. Tears fell violenly down my cheeks. I yanked my knife out of his arm, it was covered in poison and blood. I wiped the knife off with his shirt. I looked across The Arena. There was Luke's sword. I grabbed my backpack and walked towards it. I picked it up and examined it. It was always the thing he was the most proud of. I stuck it in my backpack. Wait, where's my other sword. I searched through my backpack, I saw a Sharpie. Oh, yeah. It's magical.

I stuck the Sharpie in my pocket and walked back towards Luke. I stood over him.

"It didn't have too end this way." I told him, still crying. A tear fell and landed on his cheek. I wiped my face on my sleeve. I sprinted for the door, ready too kill anyone who got in my way.

I burst through the door.

"What the...?" asked a gaurd who was standing at the door.

I had to find the dungeon...and fast.

All of a sudden, there was a loud siren going off. An alarm. _Crap._

I ucapped my Sharpie as I was running. My Aegis sheild was ready.

_"We've been seiged! Don't let her escape!" _

I can do this.

I opened the first door I came across. A man in battle armor was standing there.

"Here she-" He started, but I stabbed him in the chest. I pulled my sword out.

If I was a dungeon, where would I be? Down a flight of stairs!

I looked there were no stairs sround here. I turned around there was one door in this hallway and I had already been in there.

My thoughts were interrupted by an arrow clumsily whizzing by my head. I looked in the direction it came from, there were two archers. Another arrow was heading directly for my head. I lifed my shield and heard the _Pong!_ I lowered my sheild and let out a fierce battle cry. I ran towards the archers, they had looks of terror. I swiped my sword, knocking both of they're bows to the ground, also skinning one's hand, he cried out in pain, the other drew his back-up sword. But before he could finish, I slammed my sheild to his head and in the same swift motion, punched him across the face. He fell to the ground in pain, the other, gathering his wits, picked up the one on the ground's sword. I swiftly slid my foot under his and he fell to the ground. When they were down, I thrust my sword through their chest's.

I stepped over them and began to run another direction.

There were two doors in the hallway I had arrived in. Maybe one of them had a staircase. I picked a door.

"_Eeny meeny miney moe."_

I decided on the one to the left.

I burst through the door. Apparently, this was some sort of at work bar. No one was armed but that didn't stop them from trying to harm me. Instantly they got up, the first one to try to get me was easy, I just stabbed him . They were all easy, all unarmed. I jumped on the bar and began throwing beer bottles.

It hit one guy in the head, he fell over.

I jumped down with a type of flying side-kick, nailing a girl in her chest. I heard the unmistakable sound of her bones breaking.

When they were all cleared, I sat down. I gasped for air as I went through my backpack. I pulled out my bow and quiver. I then loaded the bow. Aegis turned back into my braclet as my sword turned into a Sharpie. I slowly crept out of the bar, expecting to see someone. There was nothing, not even a mouse, but I didn't lower my bow.

I turned the doornob on the room across the hall. I was ready too shoot, but there was no one. But, there were stairs!

There was no door at the bottom part of the stairs, so I could clearly see, and hear what was going on.

"You want this water?" A big garud at the bottom was asking Annabeth.

She nodded a little.

He opened the bottle of water and poured it on the floor.

"Oops." He said sarcastically. I heard his laugh and the laugh of another man.

Be the arrow.

I aimed and fired, the arrow whizzed through the air and into the guys back, on the right side, you know where there's normally a heart. He fell to the ground, not dead, but nealry so.

"Thalia!" cried Annabeth in a realived tone.

"Hey!" called the other gaurd, coming in to my line of fire. I instanly reloaded my bow, but I wasn't fast enough. He was up the stairs. He slashed his sword, I turned around as fast as I could, his sword sliced through my backpack. I did a quick pivot and let go on my bow string, the arrow peirced him in the stomach. I got down on my knees. I started searching, they weren't there. I jumped over him and headed towards the other gaurd. i searched all over his body, his keys were attached to his belt. I yanked them off and freed Annabeth. She hugged me.

"Thalia!" She cried once again "Oh my gods, what are you doing here?"

"Saving you." I said dropping my backpack on the floor. I dug in it, once I found _Backbiter _I handed it to her.

"This is Luke's sword." She said in shock. "Thalia, how did you get this?"

I ignored her question.

"Thalia, how did you get this?" she repated more firmly.

"I can't explain now!" I hissed, "We have too get that box."

"What box?" she asked, taking the sword.

"I told you I can't explain right now." I said, giving her a glare. I grabbed the shield off of the one of the dead gaurds, I handed it to her. She put it on. I pulled out my Sharpie and uncapped it, my braclet sprouted Aegis.

"Let's rock." I said.

We headed up the stairs and out the door.

Instantly we were met by more kids, probably half bloods.

Annabeth and I exchanged glances.

We ran to them, I took one, she took the other. I was facing a kid who was slightly older than me, He had a sword but no shield. He took first wack, our swords met, I tried to hit him with my shield, but he doged, He was able to slightly peirce my side, but before he could draw back I hit his sword with my shield, he ywelled in pain and his sword hit the ground, I thrust my sword in his chest.

I looked over, Annabeth, was having trouble with the kid she was fighting. I drew the knife that killed Luke from my belt. I threw it, It nearly hit Annabeth but distracted the guy she was fighting. I killed him in one swift motion.

"You need to work on your knife throwing." Annabeth told me, staring at the knife in the wall.

I yanked my knife out of the wall, thinking about Luke.

"Here is the room." I said, looking at the closest door to us. It was the room Luke led me out of not three hours ago. I pulled a vial from my belt, one labeled _Chimera Blood,_ I poured some on my knife. I turned the door nob. This wasn't the same room, but it did have the box in it. Lucky us.

The Warden was waiting for us. "You have managed to make it far, hunter, but this is where your journey ends." I threw my knife. It hit him, instantly he dropped to the ground.

He was the boss, yet he was the easiest too kill.

Right.

I grabbed the box off of the table. I opened the window and we climbed out.

We had escaped.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N Sorry too all who have been disapointed by my story, I have revised my chapters so they have more detail and emotion.

We ran up a grassy hill. Annabeth was behind me. I looked back only to see that the building we were being held in, was much smaller than it looked from the inside. Also, when I was looking back I saw Annabeth was not in good condition. She was a deathly shade of pale and her eyes were baggy with tierdness, her eyes had lost the glint and she was skinnier than I remember her being. She was probably hungry right now. No one from the Titan building had tried to stop us. Which suprised me. I wondered what kind of magic was cast upon this building to make it look so small. We were a safe distance away when I noticed Annabeth was slowing down and not breathing well. I stopped her and we sat down.

"Are you okay?" I asked Annabeth, rubbing her back.

She started coughing. When she finally stopped coughing she responded.

"Yes."

I looked where we were sitting. We were on a large hill, all you could see was grass, the most beautiful shade of green.

"Thalia," Annabeth started in a panicked tone "Where's your backpack."

"I left it." I said, not taking my eyes off this beautiful scenery.

"What?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, it was affecting my fighting." Then it hit me. I had remembered what I did to Luke as I looked at his sword in her hand. Annabeth followed my eyes to the sword in her hand.

"How did you get this?" she asked, her tone changing.

'I...I uh," I stamered, looking at her shirt, it was dirty and wet. It also had blood on it.

"Thalia," Annabeth said harshly "how did you get Luke's sword?"

I began to sob uncontrolably.

"I killed him." I said weakly

"What?" Annabeth asked in a shocked tone, her voice breaking.

"The Warden told me he had you captured..." I looked at the box I had in my hand "He was going to kill you. He gave me two options, I could kill Artemis or join their side. I knew I only had a chance to save you if I joined their side."

I looked up, reflecting on what all happened today. I had killed many people, including Luke. But they deserved it, right? I did camp a favor, right?

"I tricked him into thinking we were friends again." I continued sadly. "he was so...happy. I killed him with poison."

I took the vial off my belt and handed it to her. She was crying harshly.

"It's alright." She said trough tears "you did the right thing."

"That's just it." I told her, crying harder "I don't think I did it to do the right thing...I think I did it to get revenge."

Annabeth looked at me. She gave me a look I had never seen on her face before. Disapointment.

"I'm sorry." I told her, as I buried my head in my hands.

"Thalia," She said "Don't be. Either way, you did the right thing." She dried her eyes with her shirt.

I'm taking it harder then her. I expected it to be the other way around. I thought about what had happened today. I thought about Luke's face as I plunged the dagger in his shoulder. It was the same look I had seen all day as victims of my rage drew in their last breaths. Emotions clouded my mind. Not guilt or hurt. I was angry, but not with Luke or any of the other people I violently slaughtered. I was mad at Kronos. If it wasn't for him, Luke would still be alive, I wouldn've had to kill him or any of the others.

I looked over the hill. A storm was brewing, it was coming at us fast. I looked at Annabeth, the sun was gleaming off her blond hair. She was in bad health. I needed to get her to camp, and fast.

"I'm taking you back to camp." I annouced. she quickly turned her head to face me.

"What?" she asked. I looked at my Sharpie-sword.

'You heard me. I'm taking you to camp, them I'm heading to L.A to return this box." I saw her glance at the box.

"No!" she argued. "I'm going with you to the Underworld."

I didn't argue, there's no since arguing with a child of Athena. They're all stubborn.

"How long have they had you captive?" I asked her.

"I don't know, about a week." she said, looking around. "I make a good damsel in distress, don't I?"

I laughed. For a moment, I forgot about Luke.

The storm was getting closer. It was a bad one. There was a loud BOOM! of thunder and a giant flash of lightning. Someone has made Dad very angry, and I'm afriad that person is me.

_"Do not dwell on it young hero." _said a voice I didn't know_ "Your father is not mad at you, he now knows where a Titan base camp is and he seeks to destroy it."_

"Do you hear that?" I asked Annabeth.

She got a worried look on her face, which was stained with tears "Hear what?"

"Nothing."

_"She can't hear me, daughter of Zeus. Only you can." _I don't know for sure, but I really thought the voice was rising from the earth.

The wind started blowing slightly. I looked to the sky. The clouds were covering the sun, making it half dark.

_"The daughter of Athena is not well. She needs nourishment or she will surely perish. Follow me, I shall lead you to civilization."_

"Follow you? I can't even see you." I said aloud

"What? Who are talking too?" she asked. I ignored her.

_"Just because you can't see me, doesn't mean that I am not there." _said the voice. It was a woman's voice. It was the most soothing, calm voice I had ever heard. _"Take a look around."_

I looked, I didn't see anything.

_"Look again. I'm here"_

I looked around. Oh my gods! This is freaky! There are footprints that are moving!

They were fading in and out in the grass. You could see the grass press in and the image of the footprints moving away from us. Whoever this was, they were barefoot.

"Come on." I told Annabeth as I got up and moved towards the footprints.

A/N Freaky.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Sorry I haven't updated. **

I walked briskly down the hill, following the footsteps and the voice in my head.

_"Gaze upon the open meadow. This could be the last one you see." _It was telling me.

The female voice in my head was right. This was a great veiw. I could see nothing but grass for miles. The smell of wet grass was overwhelming. And I'm not saying that as a bad thing. There's really nothing to describe. But it was beautiful.

"Thalia, where are you going?" Annabeth called after me, limping slightly down the mountain. The footsteps stopped.

_"Tell her." _The voice told me calmly.

"Look." I said nonchlantly pointing to where the footsteps were. Annabeth looked, then she straoned her eyes and rubbed them in astonishment.

"Oh my gods." she said softly, stepping up closer to the footprints. Once she got close enough to the footprints that were pressed in the grass, she waved her hands where she must have thought an invisible person was. Nothing.

"Thalia," she started, concern in her voice. "Do you think it's very wise to follow someone we don't know?"

I nodded. I've already gone over the whole 'might be evil' theory. How could a voice so soothing be evil?

"I hear her voice. Not in my head, but I hear it. There's no way she's evil." I told her.

Annabeth thought on this, finally she started talking, as we started to walk again, she hesitated for a moment, but then she followed.

"If you don't hear it in your head, where does it come from?" She asked, starting to annoy me a bit.

"From the earth." I explained.

"Really?" she asked in an excited tone. "Then I know who it is."

"What?" I asked, looking at the footprints press into the grass, then suddenly stop. "Who?"

"Gaia, mother of Kronos and personification of the earth." She said proudly. Suddenly, where the footsteps had been, a woman appeared. I stepped back.

She had long, golden blond hair that reached to her butt. She also had a plain, white head-band. She had eyes as green as grass and was wearing a black sports bra and black sweatpants. Her 'fresh from the gym' look was ruined by a golden chain necklace with a green emerald charm.

"Don't be frightened." she said, in the same soothing voice that led us this far. "I'm here too help you."

Annabeth crossed her arms in a sassy way.

"Where are we?" she asked, not meanly, but curiosly.

"Why, young hero, you're in Limbo." She said.

That made me come out of the trance she had me in with her voice.

"What's that?" I asked.

"It's a place you go when you've cheated death. Often a place you will never leave."

What? I've cheated on many things and have never been here before. This chick is nuts.

She turned to face me. "I am not nuts." she said. Did she read my mind?

"You have been here before, daughter of Zeus, but when the Golden Fleece set you free, it ripped you away violently, earsing all your memories of this wonderful place."

"Oh." I said. Because, I couldn't think of anything else.

"We must hurry along. I can only stay in human form for a long time."

I followed along behind Gaia, beside Annabeth.

I hadn't noticed before, but there were many other people here with us. I saw families setting up blankets to have dinner on. Guys playing football in the distance. Birds singing their brilliant songs of love and hope. Everything here is so quiet and peaceful. But I have a question. If we cheated death, then what are we doing here? Shouldn't we be in the mortal world?

It dosen't matter. Everything here is just so...

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud _BOOM!_ of thunder.

"Um, Lady Gaia-" Annabeth started, but was interrupted by Gaia herself.

"Just Gaia, dear." she said, not even bothering to look at her.

"Right." said Annabeth nervously. "Where are we going?"

"Why, out of course." she repiled.

"Right," repeated Annabeth. "But where is _out _exactly?"

Gaia stopped and turned around.

"Why, out is out. It's impossible to tell where your going exactly. Unless, of course, you know where you died." She turned around and started walking again.

Annabeth and I exchanged glances.

"_Died?!" _we exclaimed in unison.

"Of course. What did you think your earthly bodies are doing right now?"

"Sleeping, I don't know! I don't want to be dead!" I cried.

"Relax. You're going to be fine. I'm leading you out right now." she said. "Do you know where you died."

I racked my brain. Everything was so blurry. The only thing I really remembered was killing Luke.

"Outside the Titan base camp!" Annabeth shouted in excitement. Like that's somthing to be proud of.

Gaia nodded. "Now check what you're holding. They will be the things that you will have when you reach your bodies."

I looked in my hands.I was holding the Sharpie that extends to a sword, and my bracelet was around my wrist. In the other hand, I was holding the box that contained Annabeth's thread. I looked too see of my belt was on my waist. It was. I looked sadly at the poison I had used to kill one of my old-time best friends, Luke.

"Here we are." Gaia told us after about twp hours of silent walking. "Walk past that tree, and your souls will be restored."

With that, she disapeared. Leaving nothing.

_"Remember, do things that feel right, never for revenge." _she told me.

I looked where she told us to pass. There was one tree, the only tree I had seen in Limbo. It was a large, fully grown sickamore tree. I looked at Annabeth, she nodded. We started jogging at the tree.

As I jogged, I thought of what I was about to leave behind. A beautiful meadow, that I could live in happiness with my best friend, forever. I would never have to fight a monster, again.

But I knew I had to go. I was needed on earth.

We logged past the tree, and everything went black.

**A/N So there you have it. My next update will be in a day or two. Unless you guys want me to update sooner. **

**Please review. It's stupid, I have alot of hits and not alot of reveiws. **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Read carefully, I think this chapter will get a bit confusing.**

I sat straight up. I was crowded by people, and an ambulance.

"They're alive!" Cried one girl in shocked astonishment.

I looked at Annabeth. She hadn't 'come back to life' yet. Then I saw something... Luke's sword, Backbiter, was in her hand.

"Is that a gun?" I heard someone in the crowd say in hushed terms. I stood up. Annabeth was pretty banged up. Her blond hair was matted and tangled, she had bruises and scratches all over her body. She didn't become a prisoner without a fight.

Suddenly, she woke up.

"Come on!" I yelled. she took a swift look around, then began running. Well, a sort of limp run, acually.

We pushed past the crowd and bolted down the sidewalk. I looked back to see what building we had almost died infront of.

I saw a sign. It was pretty hard to read with my dyslexia, but what I saw was this: Z ck's S b S op.

_Zack's Sub Shop? _ There was also a sign that said : Cl s d.

_Closed. _ Was this the building the Titan army was hiding in? Or was it that building we saw when we first entered Limbo?

We stopped and hurried into a dark alley when we heard the sirens of a nearby cop car. Surely they were coming after us.

We ducked behind a dumpster.

I took another look at Annabeth. She had huge wounds that I could see through her torn T-Shirt. What did they do to her?

"We need to get you to a hospital." I told her.

"No. Thalia, I'm fine." she assured me.

"No. Annabeth you're not." I repeated in a mocking tone. "I think that ones infected." I pointed to a wound below her ribcage on the right side. It was swollen with a green tint to it.

"How would we even get in? The police are after us." she protested.

"I don't care." I told her. "You need help. A hospital won't turn you down."

"I don't have insurance." she told me. Give it up already.

"Annabeth," I said "You're going."

**A/N okay, I apologize. This chapter is rather short. But the next one should be interesting, I need more time to come up with what will happen.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N thanks to all who have reveiwed. Athena0228 suggested that the doctor be Apollo. That's not going to happen, but, something very similar that I have been planning for a while will. **

We walked through the door of Sacred Heart Hospital. The emergency room was packed. I could see someone clutching their ankle, another was a baby, who looked deathly pale while the mother was holding him in her arms, sobbing relentlessly. There were two TV's and a plastic kitchen set for kids to play on.

I walked up to the counter to an elderly lady who was sitting behind the desk staring at a computer screen.

"Excuse me," I said. "She needs to see a doctor." The woman looked at Annabeth skeptically. She practically shot back looking at the open wounds on Annabeth's arms. Which, I can't blame her for doind so, it looked like a rotten fruit of some sort was growing from Annabeth's right ans left arm. Normally, We wouldn't go to a hospital, but Annabeth's wounds were to much to ignore. I don't know how I didn't notice them in Limbo.

"Are your parents here?" The woman asked, horrified.

"Umm... Well you see-" I was cut off by the sound of a holy voice.

"I'm here, my daughters." Said the voice.

I turned around, only too see the gray-eyed goddess Athena, staring at Annabeth's right arm.

"Mom." Annabeth said, shock painting her face.

"Hello, my daughter." Athena said giving Annabeth a smile.

"How did this happen?" Asked the desk-lady

_Way to kill a mood._ I thought as Annabeth and I exchanged glances.

"Allow me to explain." Athena said.

"Be my guest." I mumbled under my breath.

"You see, my daughters and I..."

Why does she keep calling me her daughter?

"We were in a terrible car accident just the other day. And my youngest, Annabeth, had wounds on her arms, as you can plainly see. The doctor told us that she needed to keep bandages on and keep it washed, which she did not do, so now, we're afraid that they're infected."

Good lie.

Athena nudged me and said, "We remember you," she looked hard at the name tag of the lady at the desk which I could clearly read, _Linda, volunteer_ "don't you remember us?"

She nudged me again and gave me a sharp look. Then, I knew what she wanted me to do. I snapped my fingers, manipulating the mist.

"Yes, I remember you now." she said. "Fill out these forms, then have a seat." She handed Athena a purple clipboard with a buch of paper and a pen attached to it. We all sat in the back, where three seats were, and inbetween them were tables cluttered with magazines.

"Mother!" Annabeth said excidedly, in hushed terms of course. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I knew you would need help. And you deserve it after all you endured."

Annabeth smiled. "But won't you get in trouble? I mean, you're not aloud to interfere directly."

Athena began filling out the information form, with, no doubt about it, fake information. "I've never cared for that rule in the past, so why should I start now. Besides, you're not on a quest."

"Good point." I said "What was with you calling me your daughter?"

"Well," Athena started, looking up from her paperwork. "If I hadn't, they would have asked who you were, if you told her you were her friend, they wouldn't have let you go with Annabeth in the back, seeing as they only let family go to watch patients being examined."

She definetly thought this through. "Oh." I said dumbly, as Athena went back to filling out her forms.

I looked around the room, the baby who was deathly pale, was even more so now. He looked terrible, his mother was still holding him against her chest, but not crying as hard anymore.

As I looked around, I noticed three more paitents sitting together. I hadn't noticed them before. They were all three old ladies, the one in the middle looked to be...Oh no! The one in the middle was knitting. I looked in the direction they were looking, thank the gods they weren't looking at Annabeth. But they were looking at the boy, the little bot in his mother's arms.

Oh no.

**A/N What do you think Thalia is going to do? Let me know in your reviews, Which I know you will do. Right?**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N Sorry it's been a while. I know I kept you all on a cliff, but I'm doing a whole bunch of before-school things. Uggg. **

I turned to Athena. She hadn't seemed to notice what was going on. I looked back at the boy. He was about...three. I can't let a three year old die! The mother looked at her soon. Her tear-stained face suddenly gave a paniced look.

"Nurse! Help!" She called, begining to sob. "I think his heart stopped!"

I looked upon the Fates. The three sisters were grinning the same evil grin. The nurse ran into the back room, calling for a docter. I looked at the three sisters. The one who was sitting on the right began digging in her handbag for a pair of scissors. The docter wasn't going to make it back in time.

"Please!" Begged the Mother, bringing tears to my eyes. "Someone! Help my Son!"

I stood up quickly. Not knowing what I could do for him. But, I had to try something. I ran to him, taking him from his mother's arms. At first, she wouldn't let go. I gave her a 'trust me' look. She looked upon his face. Tears streaming down her own. She reluctanly handed him over to me. I put him on the floor in an open space. I glanced back,

Annabeth was fighting the Fates, alongside her mother, who was clutching the box that contained Annabeth's life string, why doesn't she just give The Fates Annabeth's string now? That way we won't have to do it later. Wait, I can't think about that now. As I looked back at the boy, I noticed we had similar features. Uh oh...

I began to slowly un-button his shirt, as I began the process of CPR. I put my hands together, and put them over his chest. I counted aloud,

"One, two, three." As I attempted to start his heart again. Once that part failed, I brought my face to his, and attempted to breath for him. I gave him three huffs of my breath and pulled away from him. He still wasn't breathing.

"Breathe." I instruced his lifeless body. This time, I gave him _four _pumps and _four _breaths. Still nothing.

Suddenly, I felt a bit of power surging through my fingers. As I held them up, I saw Electricity on my first two fingers. Litteraly. It was then, I finally knew what I had to do. I placed my first two fingers over the heart of the boy, instanly, I heard a sound. You know what tin foi sounds like when you put it in a microwave? That's what it sounded like. I pulled my hands away quickly when I felt the boy breathing again. He should have been dead. That should have killed him, that was alot of electricity. A shadow was cast over him. I looked over my head, and there stood Athena. She extended her hand out to him.

"Welcome back, Troy, Son of Zeus."

I sat there in stunned silence. Troy's Mother, looked at Athena, she knew he was a son of Zeus. I could feel it. The people in the lobby were going about their business like nothing had ever happened.

"Annabeth Chase." A nurse called, standing in the doorway. I looked at Annabeth, all her cuts had been re-opened and she was bleeding terribly. "Ohh dear, how did your cuts get re-opened?" The nurse asked

"I scratched them open." Annabeth lied.

"You must never do that." The nurse said, leading all three of us back to the back examining room. I looked back, the Mother and son were looking at me. The Mother's lower lip started to quiver. She took her glance away from me and embraced her Son in a hug.

**A/N It was supposed to be longer, but I don't want to make it any longer. **

**What will happen to Troy? **

**Why didn't Athena give Annabeth's string to The Fates?**

**Find out in the next chapter. And I promise, the hospital trip will end in the next chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N **sorry it's been a while. School started...so...

We sat there, in the examining room as if nothing ever happened. We were being as quiet as a church mouse. It was a small room. It wasn't one of the rooms a patient would stay in. It had three chairs, a large scale, and a computer. And, on top of all that...it smelled like vomit. And it was like, 16 degrees in the room.

"Lady Athena, why didn't you just give The Fates Annabeth's string? It would've saved us a trip to The Underworld." I asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes," She said, as she nodded her agreement. "But, considering that you were saving a child they willed for death, they might have cut my Daughter's thread out of spite."

That's a good point. I would've never thought of that.

"But won't they just cut it when we get there and give it to them anyway?" Annabeth asked, suddenly showing signs of worry.

"No," Began Athena. "Not if you have someone who can pass through The Underworld and give the string to them for you." Athena said, suddenly eying me.

"Who?" I asked. There was no answer to my question, because we heard the knob start to turn. A man in a white coat and a clipboard walked in. He was tall, skinny and looked much like a nerd. What, with his large glasses and his shiny bald head.

"Hello ladies." He said with a smile. None of us replied, we didn't know how this was about to go. We were scared, if I can be quite honest.

"Who's the patient today?" He asked, making note of the silence.

"Gee, maybe it's the girl who's over there bleeding." I said sarcastically.

"You never can tell." He said. "One time, there was a girl who brought in a baby. I figured the girl was the patient, seeing as she was cut and banged-up from a car wreck earlier that week. Turns out that the baby was the patient. She had bronchitis. She lived, but she will suffer lung surgery when she gets older. The desiese did permanent damage to the lungs. I can't always tell who the patient is. Like you, you're pretty banged up too."

_And the point of that story was?_ I thought to myself.

But he was right. I was still banged up from trying to escape the Titan base. Although none of my cuts were as bad as Annabeth's. And mine weren't green and full of puss. I'm not even goingto ask how she got them. Even though it was obvious that Luke gave them to her. Even is he didn't give them to her directly, he still somehow gave them to her.

"Uh huh." I said in a careless tone, so maybe he wouldn't tell us another story. After reading over it, he put his clipboard on the counter.

"Alright, Annabeth, let's look at those arms." He said, putting on rubber gloves. Annabeth looked at him. He walked over to her, and reluctanly, she held her arm out. He began inspecting her arm. As he adjusted ot to certain angles, I noticed that around the cuts were begining to turn red. The docter, Docter Boras, as his name-tag said, began squeezing Annabeth's arm. She turned her face away from him to face me. I gazed upon her grimmaced expression of pain and agony as blood began sliding down her arm. I looked at Athena, she didn't really look concerned, so I decided to keep my mouth shut...no matter how much it was going to kill me. He let go as a single tear slid down Annabeth's cheek.

"Alright," He said after about two minutes of writing something down on his clippboard. "There's some good news and some bad news."

"What's the good news?" I asked.

"It's not infected...very badly." He told me.

"Very badly?" asked Annabeth, wiping the tear from her cheek. "If that's the good news, what's the bad news?"

"Well..." He said. "You will have to endure some very painful flushing."

"Flushing?" I asked "Like a toilet?"

"No," He said with a gruff laugh and a smile. "We will have to inject some chemicals into Annabeth's arm to flush out the puss."

"Oh." I said, feeling like an idiot.

"The nurse will come and get you when we're ready for you." Said the docter.

I looked at Annabeth. She didn't look like she was in a hurry to have this done. Athena stood up.

"You are very brave." She said, looking at me.

"Me? How?" I asked, feeling a bit flattered, but I didn't want to show it.

"You took Annabeth to the hospital. Do you know how many demi-gods have died because they needed to go to the hospital, but they were afriad of what might happen?" She asked, shifting through the drawers of the counter.

"No," I answered.

"Admittedly, you haven't gone through anything yet." She said. Her words made my blood run cold.

"Huh?" I asked. She finally opened the last of the drawers and pulled out a box. She opened set it on the counter and leaned up against the wall.

"Do you know the story of Dionysus and his mother?" She asked. I shrugged, and she began to look through the cabinets above the counter.

"Her name was Semele, she was beautiful, smart and young. Our father, Zeus, fell in love with her, and eventually, as always, she got pregnant by him. When Hera found out, she was furious. She swore that she would kill Semele before the baby was even born. She secretly 'befriended' the innocent mortal, who confided in Hera that her lover was Zeus. Hera pretended not to believe her, planting doubt in Semele's mind. Semele demanded that Zeus show himslef to her in his divine form. Zeus begged and pleaded her not to make him, but she insisted. So, he transformed into his divine form, which mortals cannot look onto. Semele was instantly burnt by lightning."

"That's terrible!" I said. "But wait, how did Dionysus live?"

Athena took a pair of rubber gloves out of the cabinet and put them on.

"Zeus saved him and attached him to his thigh. Which is why Dionysus is called 'twice born'." She said, taking a small, disposable cloth out of the box on the counter.

"That's a good story and all, but what does that have to do with me?" I asked. She hesitated, and began walking towards Annabeth.

"Once Dionysus was born, he had to flee from Hera...just to stay alive. Alot of times, he would wear womens clothing to disguise himslef. I imagine it's only a matter of time before you meet the same fate."

I laughed a bit at the thought of Mr. D in a dress.

"But I already wear womens clothing." I joked. Athena began wiping the blood from Annabeth's arm.

"This is a serious matter, Thalia." She said. "When you, Annabeth and Luke ran away, who do you think sent the majority of the monsters you fought?"

I didn't answer. I was too stunned. I never considered the fact that Hera might be out to kill me.

"And now that you're alive, she will once again attempt to kill you in the most grusome manner possible. No doubt about it." She said. I looked at Annabeth, who was looking back at me, her face was pale.

"Wait, what about Troy?" I asked Athena.

"I fear the worst for him. If he can't make it to Camp Half-blood soon, that is." She told me. Remind me to thank her for being Samantha-Sunshine later. Athena threw the cloth and rubber gloves away, she then proceeded to the sink to was her hands.

I felt my pocket for my Sharpie/sword.

Wait...Annabeth doesn't have a sword. She _had _Luke's sword. But where is it?

"Annabeth," I started in a tone of panic. "Where's Luke's sword, where's _Backbiter_?"

Annabeth stood up fast, looking around frantically.

"Relax." Said Athena. She reached in the direction of her left hip and pulled _Backbiter _out of thin air.

"Woah." I said breathlessly.

"How did you do that?" Annabeth asked, astonished. Athena smiled.

"I used my invisable sheath." She said. She did some sort of unfastining motions at her waist, then, with her hand closed around the invisable sheath, she handed it to Annabeth. After a while of struggling, they got it fastened aound her waist, and she put the sword inside of it, and the sword instanly disappeared. I remember thinking about how much I could use a belt like that. Because sometimes, my poisons and my dagger shows from under my shirt. A few minutes after Annabeth thanked her Mom for the gift, a short, fat black lady in a nurse's uniform entered the room.

"Annabeth Chase?" She asked. Annabeth nodded. "We're ready for you."

We all stood up and began to follow the nurse. She stopped suddenly and looked at me.

"Only one visitor per paitent at any one time." She said.

"Alright." I said. Not wanting to make a big deal out of it. I walked through the big double doors and into the waiting room. The room where I had saved a life not an even an hour ago. And speaking of them, I was suprised to find Troy and his Mother still in the waiting room. His Mother smiled, but still her eyes were tear-filled. She motioned me over. I slowly made my way toward them.

Once I made it there, Troy slipped off his Mother's lap and walked three steps to where I was standing he then wrapped my waist in a hug.

"Thank you for saving me." He said in his soft little-kid voice.

"You're welcome." I said with a smile.

"My Mommy told me that you are my sister." He said, pulling away from me. He was not even half my size.

"That's right." I said, glancing towards his mother. She was now crying, but smiling as she did so.

"You wanna' come meet her?" He asked, his electric blue eyes sparkling.

"I would love too." I said. He grabbed my hand and lead my to where his Mother was sitting.

"Mommy," He said sweetly. "This is Thalia."

Which is weird, because I don't remember telling him my name.

"Thank you." She said. "I'm Linda."

I gave her a warm smile. It's a big part of what she needs right now.

"How did that woman know?" She asked. What an ice-breaker.

"She's... specail." I assumed she was talking about Athena. She grabbed a wad of tissues from her purse and wiped her eyes. She was a pretty blond woman with the most green eyes I had ever seen.

"He's in danger, isn't he?" She asked. I nodded and sulked my head. She began to sob. I looked at Troy. He didn't seem to understand why his Mother was crying so much.

"He may not be in very much danger now. As long as he doesn't know of his godly hertitage." I told her. "And as long as Hera doesn't know about him."

Her sob sofened a bit.

"How long until she knows?" She asked, looking up.

"No way to tell." I told her. "But listen, there's this camp-"

"Camp Half-blood? I know Zeus wanted him to go there...but I can't stand to lose him." She said, crying harder than ever before. I decided it was time to get tough.

"Listen. you'll have him during the school year, and if you don't let him go, he won't get the training he needs, and then he _will_ die."

I know, harsh, but it's what she needs.

She looked up at me, and then to him.

"Will you take him?" She asked, wiping her face.

"Of course." I said. I dug in my pockets and pulled out the last of my drachma's and handed them to her. "Call whenever you think you need to."

She took the drachma's, seeming to understand. She kneeled on the floor, in front of Troy.

"Honey," She said, trying not to cry. "You're going to go with Thalia for a while." His eyes lost their childish sparkle

"Why?" He asked.

"She's going to take you to a place where you'll be safe." She responded.

"I am safe! I wanna' stay with you!" He cried and encased her in a hug. I became misty-eyed.

"I know, I know." She said. "But you have to go with Thalia. I will see you soon, I promise."

She attempted to pull away, but he wouldn't let go, he was crying on her shoulder.

"Why don't you want me anymore Mommy?" He asked.

"No!" She snapped, pulling away quickly. "Don't ever think it's because I don't want you. You are my world and I will do anything for you. I love you so much. That's why I'm doing this."

She wrapped him back in a hug.

"I love you too." He said, but it was really muffled because he had his face in her shoulder.

"Hey," I said to him. "You'll see her everyday. Through an Iris-message." I told him.

"What's that?" He asked, looking up from her shoulder, his face was red and his eyes were puffy.

"It's like a telephone, except you will get to see me." She replied.

"Cool!" he shouted, his expression of sadness lifted, but quickly returned.

"I'll miss you." He said.

"I'll miss you too." She said. They embraced once more. But this time, for a much longer time, in complete silence.

"Okay," She said. "Mommy's going to go now." She stood up. But this time, she was crying.

"No Mommy! Please!" He begged. She looked at me. I was crying. I was crying harder than I did when I killed Luke, harder than I had in a long time. She ruffled his brunette hair.

"We'll be together agian really soon." She promised. She began walking slowly to the door. Troy stood beside me. She put her hand on the glass doors.

"I love you." She said for the final time.

"I love you too." He said.

With that, she walked out the door. Troy wrapped me in a hug, and began crying against my leg. I swiped his legs from under him and picked him up. I carried him to a seat and sat down, then I sat him in my lap.

"I love you." He began saying quietly to himself. "I love you."

We sat there for thirty minutes, waiting for Annabeth to get out, when finally, she came through the wooden double doors. She gave a curious look when she saw me with Troy, who had fallen asleep. I don't blame him, can you imagine, being that young and loving your mother more than anyone in the world, then being taken from her, not knowing when you were going too see her again? I can...

"Troy," I said, shaking him gently. "We need too leave now."

He woke up, then stood up. My legs were wobbily since they had fallen asleep a while back.

"Hi Troy." Annabeth said. All he did was look at her.

"This is Annabeth." I told him. He gave her a smile.

Annabeth had two new white bandages on her arms.

"Where's you m-o-m." I asked her, spelling the last word out, for the sake of Troy.

"She l-e-f-t." Annabeth asked, a confused expression in her face. I was kind of glad she spelled the last word out.

"So..Troy, how old are you?" I asked, as we began walking towards the glass doors.

"Five." He said, giving me a sad look.

"Cool." I said. I pushed the doors and we all walked out. I lead everyone into an alley. When we got into the darkest area, I took out my knife. Troy's eye's lit up in fear at the sight of it.

"Troy," I said. "I'm going to give you this knife. _Never_ use it unless you absolutely have to." He nodded. I looked up at the rain cloud filled sky. He took the knife.

"How will I know when to use it?" He asked.

"Trust me, you'll know." I replied. Let's just hope he won't hurt himself.


	11. Chapter 11

"Thalia, wake up, it's time for you to take me to school."

I woke with that statement, and a five year-old shoving me. I opened my eyes to see him hovering over me, his eyes lit up when he saw me open mine. I shielded my eyes from the early morning sun.

"What time is it?" I asked. I saw Annabeth check her watch.

"Six-thirty." She grumbled.

"Hurry up!" Cried Troy. "School starts soon!"

"Troy," I said, sitting up "You're not going to school today."

His eyes lost their gleam. "I'm not?" He asked sadly. What kid likes school?

"Nope. Not tommorow or the next day either." I told him. Annabeth ellbowed me.

"Ouch!" I yelled. "What, it's better than him waking us up at six-thirty every morning."

I looked at Troy. Poor kid. We found a nice and cozy little alley to sleep in last night. He still doesn't know why we're running and what we're running from. I just hope he doesn't have a panic-attack when we get to the Underworld. If he even makes it that far.

His clothes were already dirty. He was wearing light blue-jeans and a gray shirt that read "Been there, wrecked that!"

"I'm hungry." annouced Troy.

"That's nice." I remarked sarcastically, then remembered he was only a kid.

"What _are _we going to do for his breakfast?" Asked Annabeth. "We can go hungry, we're used to it, but he's only five."

"How much cash have you got on you?" I asked her. She stuck her hands in her pocket and pulled out a coin.

"A dime." She said.

"You're a big help." I told her snidely. She smiled. I remembered that smile from when she was seven. When it was just me, her and Luke. One thought of Luke and my eyes filled with tears, which I held back. Why did he have to leave. Why did I kill him? I could have saved him or...

No! It was the right thing to do.

"I'll treat everyone to breakfast." I annouced. I had an emergancy fifty dollar bill that Artemis gives every hunter. Just in case. I love that goddess.

"Hey Troy," I said. "Where do you want to go for breakfast?" I picked him up. He thought for a second. I could almost see the little gears grinding.

"Waffle House!" He said excidedly.

"Waffle House it is." I told him. Annabeth smiled.

"What?" I asked. "I've never had a sibling. I should get a chance to spoil him." She laughed.

Turns out, we were in a town called Bancroft, in Idaho. We walked three blocks to get to Waffle House, but my brother wanted waffles and he was going to get them even if I died in the process. It was blazing hot, and on top of that, I was carrying Troy. To you, it would seem that I'm babying him, but hey, he's a Demigod, he needs someone to baby him before he finds out his true identity.

We walked through the door and heard the "Ding" of the bell. A young waitress was at the door.

"May I help you all?" She asked as she popped her gum.

"Yes-" I started, but was cut off.

"Well hey there, Troy!" the woman said, bending down and giving him a high-five.

"Hi, Ms. Shiela." He said bashfully.

"And who are these youg ladies you have with you this morning?" She asked, looking over me and Annabeth.

"This is my sister, Thalia, and her friend Anniebeth." He replied.

_Anniebeth?_

"That's Annabeth, Troy." I explained.

"That's what I said." He told me. The waitress laughed.

"Sister?" She asked.

"Half-sister." I explained. She nodded.

"And where's your lovely mama this morning?" She asked him.

"She left me." He said, eyeing another customers pancakes hungrily. The waitress looked at me with a look of shock.

"No she didn't." I added quickly. I turned to her. "He means she left him with us."

"Ahh." She said. "Why don't you guys find a table and I'll be with you in a minute."

"Thanks." Said Annabeth. We walked quickly to a booth in the back. Troy was ahead of us and leading us to the booth he and his Mom ate at when they came here. We piled in after him into the red-and-black striped booth. We sat there in silence for a few minutes until Troy broke the silence, of course.

"I need to go back to my house." He annouced. Annabeth and I exchanged glances.

"Why?" She asked him.

"I wanna' go back and get my Superman action-figure." He told us.

"I don't think we'll have enough time." I told him.

"Pleeeaaase!" He begged. I remained quiet.

"Anniebeth?" He asked, trying to get her on his side. She looked at him for a few moments.

"Alright, we'll go after breakfast." She said. My jaw dropped.

"Push over." I grumbled.

"You try saying no to something like 'Anniebeth'." She said. As she finished that statement, the waitress walked up to our table and pulled out a small notepad.

"What can I get for you all today?" She asked.

"You know what I want, Ms. Shiela!" He said happily, with a smile.

"I sure do sweet pea." She said as she scribbled down something in her notepad.

Annabeth and I ordered. After I was sure the coast was clear I started talking again.

"Okay," I said "Your Mom said that we needed someone to give them your thread who can keep them from cutting it. Who would that be?"

I put my hand on the box that contained Annabeth's string, which was in my lap.

"Isn't it obvious?" She asked.

"Apprently not." I replied.

"What does 'apparently' mean?" Asked Troy.

"Nico Di Angelo." Annabeth said. "And 'apparently' means...something like, obviously."

"Of course!" I said "Why didn't I think of Nico?"

"What does 'obviously' mean?" asked Troy.

"It means something is plainly clear." Said Annabeth knowingly.

"Oh." Troy said, even though he probably still didn't get it.

The waitress came with our food and set it down.

"I'll see you later Troy." She said.

"Bye Ms. Shiela." He said, then took a sip of his orange juice. Nothing else was said over breakfast. We were too busy devouring it like a pack of starving wolves.

"I have too go to the bathroom." Troy said after we were done eating.

"Okay." I said cherrfully as I began to get scared. I didn't want to let him out of my sight, but I wasn't about to go into the boys bathroom. He slid out of the booth and walked around the corner.

"Annabeth," I said in a low voice "Wait outside the door, and if anything happens let me know. Otherwise I'm going to pay the bill."

Which was only twenty-six dollars by the way. She nodded and slipped out of the booth and around the corner. I slipped the fifty dollar bill into the check folder and no sooner than I did, Annabeth got my attention.

"Thalia!" She called. I sild out of the booth and ran over to her in lightining speed. I looked in the direction she was lookin and saw Troy, giving his knife to a fat lady.

"Echinada!" I cried. Before I could think, I whipped out my Shapie and uncapped it. No sooner did I have Aegis shield on my arm. Luckily, she didn't have any of her children with her. She didn't have a weapon with her either. At the site of me charging in his direction, Troy yelped and ran to Annabeth. He immediately began crying. This was going to be an unfair fight. Just the way I like em'.

I charged, knocking her over with my shield. I swung my sword through her body and it passed through her clean, as if she were made of water. She instanly dissolved into dust. I began running the other direction. I grabbed Troy hand and kept running, Annabeth followed. We continued to run out the door and around the corner until I figured we were safe.

I wanted to slap myself realizing that I had left the waitress a thirty-four dollar tip.

**A/N That has to be the lamest fight I ever wrote about. **


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N Yes! Finally! I have Microsoft Office now! I can finally use big words with confidence.**

We took a rest at the corner of the street, far enough away not to be seen from the Waffle House.

"Can we go get my Superman now?" Troy asked, not phased at all about what just happened. But hey, if he's not phased, no need to make him so, right?

"Sure," I said. He should at least have a toy to play with, every child needs a toy. "Lead on."

As it turns out, his house wasn't so far away from the Waffle House that we were in. I liked his neighborhood. It was qiet and peaceful and there were kids playing in their yards. It was Saturday, so they were out of school for the weekend. Also, everyone's house was painted a different color. No exotic colors like hot pink, or lime green, but at least they didn't look alike. Most were shades of tan or brown with a roof that had colors lighter than the house itself.

Now, I don't want you to stalk my little brother, so let's just say his address is… 4444 lollipop lane.

Anyway, he stopped sharply at the sidewalk that led to his tan-colored house. His grass was trimmed short and was the greenest I had ever seen. There was a toddler-sized swing set and a plastic motorcycle in his front yard. He walked to the door casually and turned the knob. He mumbled something under his five-year old breath as he discovered it was locked. He turned around and should us off the welcome mat. He lifted it up to reveal a spare key glimmering in the morning sun. He bent down and grabbed it, then stuck it in the lock and twisted to the left. I heard a _Click _as I thought that he must've done this before.

His house was well decorated. The walls were and eggshell color and the floors were wooden, sanded to a smooth surface. In his living room, above the couch, were five pictures of him, starting with one of him as a baby, then a year on, and so on until the most recent one.

"Where's your Mom?" I asked him.

"She's at work." He replied as he waked past the cream colored kitchen and up the carpeted stairs.I began to follow him, but Annabeth grabbed my shoulder.

"I'll stay down here and keep watch." She told me. I nodded.

"Wanna' come see my room Thalia?" He called from upstairs.

"Be right there." I called back up to him, turning away from Annabeth. I got half way up when Annabeth began talking again.

"Hey, Thalia?" She asked.

"Yeah?" I asked in reply.

"Thanks." She said simply.

"For what?" I asked, trying to detect sarcasm in her voice.

"For saving me." She said. I felt my cheeks warm up.

"Ah, it was nothing," I lied. "I would have done it for anyone." She smiled a smile that I hadn't seen since she was seven. A warm smile. A smile that lets you know that she cares and wants to do anything to help you. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one who needed help. She needed it more than I did.

"Thalia?" Called Troy.

"Coming." I called back lightly, getting one last glance at Annabeth's smile. I finished walking up the stairs and rounded the corner. I was now in a crème-colored hallway with white carpet. I headed for the only door I saw open and went into Troy's room. He was laying on his already-made bed writing in some sort of journal. His room was red with posters everywhere. He had a TV and a computer. Both off. His room didn't look like a five-year olds. It looked like a teenager's . It had a poster of a woman, about twenty, holding a microphone. She seemed to be singing in the picture.

"Troy?" I asked.

"Hmm?"

"Who's this?" I asked, looking at the poster.

"Oh," He said, eying the poster. "That's Kristen Stillion. She's my girlfriend." I laughed a bit.

"Oh really?" I asked.

"Yeah, she's the lead singer of this band I like, Genocide, My dream is to run up to her after a concert and give her a hug." He said, directing his attention back to the notebook he was writing in.

Five year olds.

"Is that so?" I asked.

"Yeah, my friend, Jimmy, has a brother who did that, and a few weeks later, he got a specail letter from her with her signature on it. I think He called it a re…restain…"

"Restraining order?" I geussed, considering the situation.

"That's it." He said. I didn't reply. No need in me telling him that wasn't a good thing.

"Can I take more than my Superman?" He asked, putting the notebook down and sliding off his bed.

"Sure." I said. He walked over to his closet and grabbed a backpack and a lot of clothes.

He plopped it all on his bed. He grabbed a clean shirt and took off his dirty one, and shritless, he walked over to the clothes hamper and put his dirty one inside. He then put on his clean one. He walked over to the bed and pulled the journal off. He handed me the spiral notebook that read: _My Kindergarten Journal, from beginning of school, until Christmas._

"What's this?" I asked.

"It's my journal." He said, beginning to stuff his clothes into his backpack. "I keep one because I want to be a weather man and my Mommy said that I had to keep a weather journal if I wanted to learn about weather. But I put a lot of other stuff in it too."

Interesting. A child of Zeus wants to be a weather man. I sat on the end of his bed and opened up the journal to the most recent entry. This is what it said:

_dear weather journal,_

_yerserteday __yesterday i met my sister thalia. the weather was pretty that day. i think it's because the clouds knew i was __suposed __supposed to be happy so they didn't make any rain. my new sister is real pretty. but that's only because she is related to me. she knows that i'm __sacred __scared a little, but not anymore now that i'm with her and anniebeth because i know that she loves me and won't ever let those mean people get me. you know those mean people i wrote about on the other pages. i __ half__ have to go now._

_troy _

I closed the journal. Troy was struggling to close the zipper of his backpack.

"Stupid zipper!" He yelled at it. He was pulling the zipper with all his might. If he pulled any more, the little red backpack would tear.

"Need help?" I asked him teasingly.

"Yes please." He said politely. He had stuffed all his clothes in the backpack without folding them.

"Maybe if you would fold them you wouldn't have this problem." I told him. "You go tell Annabeth that we'll be done in a few minutes." He obeyed and ran down the stairs yelling for 'Anniebeth'

I dumped all his clothes out of the backpack and began to fold them. I started to think about Troy's journal entry. He was so sweet. I felt really bad for him because I knew what it was like to be so young and to be attacked by big things like hellhounds. I remembered the first monster I fought was a cyclopes. Which was ironic, considering the last monster I fought was a cyclopes. The first one that I fought though, I was lucky to come back.

__

"_**Puny little demigod!" Bellowed the idiotic cyclops.**_

"_**What's a demigod?" I asked, dodging a blow from his club. **_

"_**I not falling for that!" He said as he swung his club once more, this time, it landed violently on a park bench and the bench flew into pieces and the wood scattered in all different direction. **_

_**I was only eight. What did he want from me? **_

_**I bolted across the park and ran up the slide. Even though it was against the park rules. The slide stood at about eye level with the monster. Once he figured out where I was, he let out a yell of rage and began to run. The ground shook beneath his ugly feet and he crushed more benches without even giving a glance back down. I ducked my head. In the process of ducking, I caught a glimpse of a sandy-haired boy watching the fight.**_

_**I lay there, in a type of fetal posistion. Waiting for the cyclopes to end my life with his club. My life flashed before my eyes. **_

_**Walks with my Mom.**_

_**My first birthday.**_

_**My first day of school.**_

_**A day at the beach.**_

_**Brilliant lightning bolts.**_

_**And after about a minute of that, I realized I wasn't dead. **_

_**I dared to take a peak. The cyclopes was gone. I stood up slowly, just in case. A few feet where the cyclopes had once stood, was now a pile of grotesque dust. I looked around to see if anyone had noticed. No one seemed to have stirred, accept for the sany-haired boy. He was now wearing a baseball cap the read "Luke"**_

"_**Need help?" He asked. **_

It was still painful thinking about Luke. I wished we could go back to that moment. That exact moment. Why did he have to go to the Titan's? I missed him so. Even more now that he was dead. And I was his murderer.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N Sorry it's been a while. I'm swamped at school. ARRG!**

"I don't know about this Troy." Said Annabeth, Troy was taking us somewhere, it was supposed to a surprise, so he had a sock that he packed wrapped around our heads to use as blindfolds, and was holding our hands and leading us to…wherever.

"Trust me." He assured us in his little-boy voice. We had just recently left his home and we were now heading to gods know where. I had regretted not having us all take showers while we were there.

"At least give us a hint on where we're going." I told him.

"No." He answered almost instantly.

"Why not?" I whined. (And who's the five year old?)

"It's a surprise."

We walked for what felt like hours. My legs were sooooo tired and I was soooo hungry. I was sure at had to be mid afternoon by now.

"Troy, we can't do this for much longer. We better get there soon." Annabeth said.

"You can take off your blind folds." He said, but he kept walking, so I was sure we weren't there yet.  
I removed my blind fold as soon as I could. The sun was bright and the sudden change of light left me blind for a moment. It was nice to smell the pre-winter air again, instead of bleach and fabric softener. I was right earlier. It was around four O' clock and the sun began to set. The sun in Idaho was beautiful. Maybe the most beautiful I'd ever seen. The only one I remembered to be that beautiful was when I was with the Hunters in Nevada. We were chasing some rare pack if manticor that only spawn ever one-hundred years. I remembered that we were all sitting around the camp-site, eating our first meal in days. That was the first time I talked to Saeva. My mind wandered off. I didn't get a chance to see how Saeva and Zana were doing before I was kidnapped. For all I knew, they could be dead right now.

"We're almost there." Troy announced. Though, I still didn't see the place he was leading us to. Troy had changed pants earlier in a public bathroom inside a fast food place. He had also put on a black hoodie with a red dragon on the front. Annabeth and I were still wearing the same clothes, even though Troy had offered to let us use his, we just didn't want to wear boy's clothes.

Suddenly, the trees ended and a little town opened up.

"What is this place?" Annabeth asked, her hands over her eyes, trying to block the sun.

"This is Gray City." Troy said. He looked around as if this was his second home.

"Is it on the map?" I asked him, looking around the dump of a town.

"I don't think so." He replied. It was a small town. Family owned shops and stores every scattered around everywhere, houses almost everywhere, and a small motel in the middle of it all. Troy lead us across the street (But I held his hand) to the sidewalk. Most of the stores were painted light pink, green, or blue. The sidewalk was a normal color, but it was old and cracked in many places. It was also dirty and there were some loose leaves every now and again. We walked past fruit stands, bake sales, yard sales, and a grocery store that said UlprEt's OgrrEceis, or something like that. Troy translated it, because he was one of the lucky few without dyslexia. It really said: Luperts' Groceries.

Troy lead us through the small town and to a place whose sign, I could read perfectly for some reason. It said: Pet World. I kept walking, not knowing Troy was headed for the door. He walked up to the door and pulled it halfway open.

"Hold it." I ordered. He let go of the door and watched it swing shut. I walked up to where he was standing and bent down to his eye level.

"Troy," I began "You made us walk this far, so we could go to a _pet store?"_

"Uh huh," He said, "My Mommy says that pets make everyone happier."

"Why you little-" I began furiously.

"Thalia…" Annabeth warned, interrupting me. I took a deep breath. "Come on, Troy, " She said, leading him in "We're going to look at the pets while Thalia decides she needs more fiber in her diet."

I took another deep breath and walked in. The smell of dogs and feces' immediately hit me. I grimaced. The place was crowded with people. On the right side of the store, there were about… twenty tanks full of puppies, two to a tank. And past them, were four cages of kittens, all connected to each other. Past the kittens, were small fish tanks of rodents and reptiles. In the middle of the store, birds had their own tanks without lids, so that people could interact with them. One kid was bothering a parrot, and when he turned to go away, the parrot let out this sound; I swear it was a laugh, and jumped into the kids' hair, attacking his head with his beak. Next to the parrots, were the ferrets, hamsters, and rabbits, all with an open tank. I spotted Troy playing with an albino ferret, who was enjoying the attention.

I walked over to the tank of puppies and began to browse. There was a basset hound in a tank with a sleeping Chihuahua, a German Sheppard playing with a black Labrador, and I had to stop and play eith the Golden Retriever who was basically begging for your attention.

"Hey little guy," I said aloud "You're so cute."

He or she barked as if it actually understood me.

"You don't like it in there, do you?" I asked. It gave me a pitiful look and began scratching in the glass softly.

"It's okay," I assured it. "It's better for you to stay in there, you want to know why? Because, you don't have to worry about monsters, or food, or if you're going to survive into the next day. And you never _ever _have to kill someone, especially someone you cared about."

"How did you kill him?" Asked Annabeth's voice from behind me.

"Poison," I told her sadly. She nodded.

"Listen, Thalia," She began, "I know you feel really bad about killing Luke, but it had to be done. You did the right thing. He was gone to the other side and was obviously not coming back. You did what was best."

"Then how come I feel like crud?" I asked coldly.

"Because, Luke…He was close to your heart." She said. "You loved him."

I shot her a look.

"Like a brother." She added. I looked at my shoes. Why was it always so easy for Annabeth to read you? She was smart. That was a good thing, but sometimes it was just downright annoying.

"Listen, I'm going to run to bathroom." She informed me.

"Okay." I said simply, Still a bit embarrassed that I was overheard pouring my heart out to a dog. She turned around, giving me one last sympathetic glance before she walked off and around the corner.

I continued walking down the rows of glass tanks until I was finished. I began to move on to the reptiles after I had finished the kittens, when I noticed something I hadn't before; a door that was cracked open. I walked over and peaked inside. There was a spiral staircase that looked like it was made four-hundred years ago. It was old and made of rotting wood. Plus, there were no railings. I went to shut the door, but I couldn't. Curiosity had gotten the better of me. Mindlessly, I stepped into the room, shutting the door behind me.

I put my foot on the first step; it instantly creaked, making me yank my foot back. Slowly, I put my foot on the step again, this time, keeping as little weight as possible on it. The step gave a little creak and a cracking sound. Slowly, I moved to the next step.

As I slowly began to progress down the stairs, I could see what was in the room below.

First of all; the room was dimly lit, the only light was coming from several torches' around the room. The room itself looked to be tan, but who could really tell? There were only boxes…boxes everywhere.

I finally reached the last step, and it creaked under my feet. I slowly walked over to one of the boxes; I reached one hand out towards it and saw figures moving in the corner of my eye. I turned my head as fast as possible and saw a mirror, A medium-sized mirror.

Inside the mirror, were two figures. Me… and Luke. It showed us fighting about a year before, when I had almost killed him by pushing him off a mountain and he had survived. Then, it showed his look of horror when I stabbed the knife in his forearm. It showed the blood dripping from the wound and him falling to the ground.

_Death is a funny thing._

Suddenly, I was startled by the sound of something falling. As if I weren't scared enough. This box that fell…. It was all the way on the other side of the room.

_Death is a funny thing._

I was frozen in fear. I thought about running for the stairs, but my feet wouldn't move. The wall that I was facing began to move. Wait…walls don't move! On the wall; there was a shadow… a shadow standing next to mine. But there was no one standing next to me.

_Death is a funny thing._

I reached for my Sharpie and kept it in my hand. He shadow was moving slowly. I couldn't tell if it was male or female, old or young.

_Death is a funny thing._

I walked over to the box, the one that had fallen over, and looked to see what it had spilled. Inside the box was some sort of container, and inside that container was Ichor, the golden blood of the gods. The container had broke open, spilling the golden blood all over the tile.

To this day I don't know what possessed me, but I carefully leaned down, stuck my finger in the Ichor and licked the blood off my finger. The taste was not like normal blood. It tasted a sugary substance.

Instantly, the sounds of the African Djembe softly filled my head. Pain came up my body as fast as lightning.All my nerves felt as if they were on fire, as the Djembe drum slowly grew louder. I dropped to me knees as the pain grew. I looked at the place where the shadow was, only to be scared out of my witts seeing the shadpw pull itslef from the wall and begin to walk towards me. Suddenly, a sharp pain went through my heart. It felt as if someone had just stabbed me.

Maybe someone did.

The drums grew louder until they were all I could hear.The pain in my heart spread through my body, replacing the old pain, and giving me this new, much worse version. My eyes strained as I began to see red. The pain was going sharper, like Hephaestus had split my head with an axe. The pain spread in my fingers, making them stretch out to an extent, and then curl back up again. The drums were so loud now, I couldn't hear myslef think. then, a loud crack of thunder, and the pain was gone. So were the drums, and my vision was clear again. I stood up. My heart racing. The Ichor was gone. The mirror was gone. The boxes were gone. I was standing in a empty room.

I ran towards the stairs and raced up them...old or not. They began cracking, one broke as I stepped on it, my leg fell through, scratching it up all the way to my butt. I quickly pulled myslef out of the whole and ran for the door. I opened it and ran out. I stepped on the other side nonchlantly and closed to door. The door closed and I heard an unritual sucking sound. I turned around to find that the door had disapeared. The wall was solid.

I walked away to keep from drawing attention to myself. I looked around, still scared to death. Troy, was still at the ferret cage, and Annabeth was coming out of the bathroom. I motioned for her to follow me from where I was standing, about fifteen feet away, and headed to the ferret cage. Troy smiled excitedly when he saw me.

"I want this one." He said, gesturing to the albino ferret that was asleep in his left arm.

"You can't have a ferret." I said harshly.

"But...why..please." he begged.

"Troy!" I snapped. "Say goodbye to the ferret and meet us at the door." I grabbed Annabeth's arm and dragged her tot eh exit. troy was temporarily out of sight.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong." I lied. The fact was, I was still shaken up and and I had no clue what had happened, so why tell her? She looked at me skeptically, then turned her eyes on Troy, who was heading at us with a smile on his face.

"Ready?" I asked. _I know I am._

"Yep." He said cheerfully.

We walked out the glass doors of that horrible place, and rounded a corner.

"Lead us out of here, Troy." Annabeth ordered. Without saying a word, Troy lead.

I stayed in the back, reflecting on what had happened. I had seen Luke and me fighting in the mirror, I had seen a shadow-thing on the wall. There was some Ichor in the boxes that spilled on the floor, I tasted it, and got some sort of allergic reaction... could have happened to anyone, right?

I decided that it would be better to forget about it, especailly with my little brother here. I didn't want him to see me...scared.

I ran up to catch up with Troy.

"Hey, I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier it's just... what in gods' name is that?!" I asked, pointing to a little albino leg sticking out of the front pocket of Troy's hoodie. He stuffed the leg in his pocket and looked at me guiltily. Without him saying a word of defense, I stuck my hand in his pocket, felt for what I needed to feel, and pulled out a little albino ferret from his pocket.

"You _stole _a ferret?!" I cried, loud enough for the people at the gas station across the street to hear. He snatched the ferret from my hands.

"I didn't steal him!" He protested.

"Oh really?" I asked, stopping and crossing my arms. He looked down somberly. I grabbed him by the arm and took lead him into and alley.

"What were you thinking?" I scolded. He began to cry.

"I really, really wanted him, Thalia." He cried. He saw he was getting no sympathy from me, so he turned to Annabeth. "Anniebeth?" She crossed her arms. He looked back and forth between us.

"We can't aford a pet." Annabeth chimed in. Troy looked at the ferret longingly. Annabeth directed her attention to me. "Should we take him back?"

I shifted uncomfortably, remembering what happened to me at the pet store not an hour ago.

"No." I replied. "They'll ask our parents phone numbers. I can hear it now. _'oh, well you see, our parents are Greek gods, so they don't have a phone, but if you go to the empire state building, and you take the elevator up a couple of hundred floors, they're the first throne room on your right.'"_

Annabeth nodded in agreement. "What about the ferret then?" She asked.

"I guess we keep it." I said with a sigh.

"Yes!" Troy called in excitement. "His name is Anniebeth." I busted out laughing when he annouced he named the boy ferret after Annabeth.

"_His _name is Anniebeth?" Annabeth asked, for clarification. "Why?"

"He reminds me of you." Troy replied.

"How?" Annabeth asked, she seemed a bit insulted.

"He's stinky and he's blonde." Troy told her.

"So he is almost an exact copy of you." I joked with Annabeth.

She did not like it too much.

**A/N Okay, this chapter, I want you to rate the chapter from one to five in your review please.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N Sorry this is taking so long. I have school. I'll just skip the 'I hate school' lecture today, since I have given it to you every update since school started. **

We strolled through the town. You tell me there's nothing suspicious about a five year old with his hands jammed into his hoodie, and two teenage girls, one dressed like a punk-rocker carrying a box that never leaves her sight, and the other with bandages all up her arm and dirt pasted all over her face, Both of them with cuts in random places.

The sky was gray with rain clouds and I feared we would have to stop traveling, which I didn't want. The sooner we got to the Underworld and Troy and Annabeth were safely back at Camp, the sooner I would get to go back to the Hunters. I missed all the Hunters, well most of them, and felt guilty for not giving them much thought lately.

Thunder boomed overhead. Troy's pocket began to wiggle a bit, causing him to grasp the stolen rodent harder.

"Don't worry, little guy, as soon as we get out of town, you won't have to live in my pocket." Troy said softly, followed by; "Thalia, I have to go potty."

"Okay," I replied, "do you know where any gas stations are?"

"No." He replied simply, "but my mommy's work is right over there." He pointed to a rundown supermarket. I looked at Annabeth; she was casually looking around, like all tourists do.

"Alright," I said, against my better judgment. Without a word, Troy bolted across the street to the little supermarket. The car he ran in front of slammed on the break and honked its horn.

"Troy!" Annabeth screamed. We trailed across the street after him, but _we_ walked. When we caught up to him, I grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't _ever_ do that again." I scolded.

"Ouch! Thalia, you're hurting me!" He cried, grabbing the attention of bystanders. I let him loose.

"You haven't even known pain yet, you have to live with me before you do." I replied. Looking back on it, I realize it wasn't the best thing to say, considering that I was talking about the monsters I have to fight that he didn't really know about at that point. He pulled the glass door open and stomped in. Annabeth stared at me.

"What?!" I demanded after a while.

"I know you're stressed…" She began

"No, really?" I asked sarcastically. Annabeth took a deep breath.

"Thalia, you can't let your stress get the better of you," She eyed the glass door to make sure no one was coming. "No matter what form it may be in."

"You mean the form of a five-year old who steals ferrets?" I asked.

"Thalia, give him a break, he was just taken away from his mom…" She hesitated "You should know how it feels."

I was suddenly alarmed, my cheeks turned red. I had never felt the strongest urge to punch Annabeth. She knew I hated talking about my mom. But in a way, it was exactly what I needed to hear.

When was it that I got so moody? Right before I almost died in a creepy room below a pet store or after I found out my brother committed the crime of grand theft ferret? I didn't know. Thunder boomed in the sky once again, and a light rain began to fall. Annabeth walked slowly over to the news stand and picked up a paper entitled _"Daily News" _her face lit up in shock. She looked to see if I was watching, which I was. She hurried over to me and handed me the paper. My dyslexia wasn't acting up at all, so I could read it clearly.

_Hurricane Charlene to make landfall tonight._

_Hurricane Charlene has thrashed through the western part of the USA and is now heading towards Idaho. Charlene is a category four hurricane with wind speeds up to 145 to 150 miles per hour. The residents of Idaho have been advised to evacuate. Hurricane Charlene has already caused at least one-million dollars in damage and has left over a hundred people injured and at least thirty people dead. _

Crap….

I sighed. This was not good news. In fact, it was the last thing I wanted. I wanted so badly to get back to Artemis and the hunters. They probably thought I was dead, and probably had a toast in my honor at dinner because of that.

None of this was my fault. It was all Luke's fault. No, it wasn't his fault, it was my Fathers fault. If he had stuck to his oath, I wouldn't be alive, and at this moment, I would prefer death. If I wasn't a half-blood, I would be in the body of another kid, who would actually _see _legal driving age.

But then again, there are probably thousands of people who want my life. Always free, in the outdoors, always having fun, and living with my best friends. On second thought, that's the life I want. I wouldn't last as a normal school girl. Funny thing, your parents always tell you to enjoy childhood while it lasts, then the cram you in a school for nine hours five days a week.

What a life.

Troy, now he's a little kid. He needs to love it for as much as he can, and I wish he could, but he had to know what was going on. His life depended on it. I knew I had to tell him, and quick.

"Where are we going to go?" I asked.

"Hotel?" Annabeth offered. I shook my head.

"Can't afford it," I told her. She seemed to ponder this.

"If there are no shelters open," She began "They'll let us in the hotel for free. They have to."

"Really?" I asked. She nodded. "Are there any shelters open?" This time she shrugged.

I looked through the glass door of the grocery store. Troy's Mom wasn't in sight, but he was talking to a fat guy with a green store apron on. He was prematurely bald and had yellow teeth.

I opened the door and headed in. A bell overhead rang, drawing attention from both Troy and the fat guy. They looked at me.

"Welcome to Green Valley's." The man said.

"Thanks," Said Annabeth from behind me as she came through the door. The man smiled halfheartedly.

"Troy," I started, "come on, it's time to go." Troy walked backwards a bit, trying to show he was mad at me.

"And you are?" Asked the cashier, glancing at Troy.

"Thalia, I'm Troy's sister." I told him with a smile. He seemed to be displeased with my gothic appearance.

"Half-sister," Troy corrected. He seemed much more knowledgeable than a five- year old should be. "Oh, John, don't make me go with her, she's mean and she yells at me."

John looked at him sympathetically. "Alright, I'll take you home after my shift."

"No you won't, his mom entrusted him with me, not some forty-year old loser who rings up peoples over-priced canned goods for a living." I hissed.

He stiffened "You better watch it, young lady."

I stepped closer, "Or what? You'll make me decide between paper or plastic?"

"Thalia-" Annabeth started, but I held a hand up to stop her from talking.

"He's not going." John said flatly. I got closer until we were apart by about an inch. I looked up.

"That's not exactly your choice, now is it?" I asked.

"That's it!" He cried. He pulled his fist back, ready to punch me, and I was ready to punch him back, however, the punch never came. As I watched, I heard certain, gruesome noises, and the cashiers eyes lit up in surprise and pain. Suddenly, the cashier fell backwards, holding the same expression all the way down.

_What happened? _I thought. My question was answered in the most horrible way possible. John hit the ground with a heart wrenching thud. As if in slow motion, Troy stepped in my line of sight, holding a bloody knife in one hand. My heart skipped a beat. Annabeth cried out in horror and surprise.

_Oh, gods no. Tell me no._

I looked back down at the corpse that had once been a cashier. Blood was now slowly trickling out of his mouth; his eyes were rolled in the back of his head. The image was too much for me to bear. I began to cry. John's face was turning a pale color and his fingers began to lightly twitch, as most dead peoples nerves react to sudden death. I blinked, as if wanting to wake up from this nightmare, but It didn't work, this was real.

He was dead. And Troy, his murderer. I glanced back and forth between the lifeless body and Troy, who was beaming proudly, until I noticed the people with the cell phones staring at us in horror.

"Thalia!" Called Annabeth, holding the glass door marked 'push' open for us. Her message was clear 'we need to go'.

I looked at Troy, who now seemed less proud of what he had done. And for one second, one split second, I had an urge to run, leave _him_ here to deal with the cops and let _him _get arrested. But I couldn't, he depended on me, he _needed_ me.

A five- year old fugitive…

I grabbed his shoulder

"Come on!" I shouted over the already-approaching sirens. That was when he began to cry. He now knew what he had done.

We ran through the city, pushing past random people and knocking over stands of fruit, makeup, and a whole bunch of assorted items. At one point, I pushed past an old lady in a wheel chair and knocked her out of her own wheel chair. Her loved ones began to call after me in assorted curses and what not. I didn't care though. I was still getting over the fact that my little brother was a murderer. We ran at such a fast pace that my heart began to bang loudly against my chest. Images came flooding back. The first monster I fought on the playground. When I first saw Luke, when I died and the yanking feeling that embraced me as I took my final breath as a human being, me pushing Luke of the cliff, the look of horror and confusion when I stabbed him with the same knife Troy had used to kill an innocent mortal. Now that I think about it, the look in Luke's face and the look on John's face were almost the same look.

We kept running until we came to a sign that I couldn't refuse. It read "Snu-pu Ohelt".

Sun-Up Hotel.

I turned the corner into the parking lot of the hotel. Troy was balling by this time.

The Hotel itself was huge on the outside. And on the inside, it was beautifully decorated, with art paintings and expensive vases. The couches in the lobby were black leather, and there was a glass coffee table in between them, with a single yellow rose in a flower vase. The carpet was a tan-caramel color that looked well-kept and brand new. A creeping feeling rose in me as we approached the desk.

"Excuse me, we need a room." I told him.

"Do you have a reservation?" The man in his thirties asked me.

"No," Replied Annabeth for me. "But it's for hurricane shelter. We're tourists."

The man looked over us. Troy had his bloody knife stuffed in his pocket with his probably very nervous pet ferret, and I was holding a large wooden box. He sighed and shifted to his computer. He typed a few words and read what came up on the screen to himself. He then redirected his attention to us.

"I'm sorry; there are no vacant rooms at this point in time." He said with fake sympathy.

The creeping feeling overwhelmed me.

"Sure there are. Those people over there are checking out." I told him as I pointed to a young couple that was snuggling on the leather couch, watching a weather report on hurricane Charlene. The man looked at me like I was insane. But to my surprise, the couple got up and stood straight, like they were in the army. The headed over to us like a couple of zombies and looked at the guy behind the desk.

"We'd like to check out." The man said simply, in some sort of flat tone, like he was hypnotized.

"You just checked in." The guy behind the desk informed them.

"We'd like to check out." Said the girl in the same eerie tone.

"Alright." Said the guy behind the desk, his voice full of disbelief. He began to type on his computer once more. I looked up at the guy standing next to me. He was about twenty with blond hair. He looked… disturbed. His pupils were large, and to my own shock, the white part of his eyes were bright red. And I mean Bright red.

Had I done that? Had I made them check out? Did it have something to do with the Ichor?

The man behind the desk handed us the room key. It was flat like a credit card, except it had no bar code.

"You have the suite until the storm passes, enjoy." Said the guy behind the desk, and suddenly, the red left the eyes of the man and his wife. They walked out the door with very confused faces.

**A/N Okay, sorry it took so long, I'm going to start doing one update a week, if that's alright with you guys, if you decide that you can't live for a week without my updates I will TRY to update during the week.**


	15. Chapter 15

We walked in room 609 of the Sunrise Inn. I knew if I attempted to talk to Troy about his little…incident, we could be overheard. Troy had cried a river since we had left the scene of the crime. It was sad for me as well.

Sad because I had killed Luke.

Sad because I had killed all those fellow demigods.

Sad because I had killed.

I slid the room key in the slot and the green light flashed with a gentle click. Troy pushed past us and ran to the bathroom. I don't know if it was because he was sad, or he just really had to go.

Thunder and lightning boomed and flashed in the sky above. It had gotten dramatically darker in just a few short minutes. The room itself was nice. There were two twin beds with a bed table in between them. There was a painting of a sunset hanging over the bed table, which held and alarm clock and several coasters. Mauve curtains hung over the window, opened slightly, just so slightly that I could still see the eerie things that were happening outside. The tan carpet ended and a wooden tile floor began, exposing a kitchen, equipped with a microwave and a full sized refrigerator.

"Television!" cried Annabeth childishly from a room beyond the kitchen. I slowly navigated around the small island that lie in the middle of the kitchen. The tile floor ended once again, and the tan carpet took its place. I walked into a small room, possessing only a couch and a flat-screen television. Annabeth rested on the couch and looked at me.

"Thalia," she began "we need to talk."

Suddenly, panic rose in me. Had she noticed what had happened in the lobby of the hotel?

"It's about Troy." She said, sending a pulse of relief through my undeserving veins.

"What about him?" I asked, knowing exactly what it was about.

"He's…not right, Thalia." She told me.

"About what?" I asked, sitting on the arm of the couch. Annabeth's gray eyes had lost their glint. She kept an expression of bottled up horror.

"No," she said, seeming to get a little impatient with me. "He's not right mentally."

"What?" I asked, my voice rising.

"Shh," went Annabeth almost immediately. "We don't want him to overhear."

"What do you mean 'not right mentally'?" I asked her.

"He stole a ferret, then he killed someone." She said matter-of-factly.

Then it hit me. She was absolutely right. Like those people who go to mental institutes. They're insane, but it starts out small, and then just keeps getting bigger, and those are people without mental disorders. Troy, on the other hand, had started out small, and then took a giant leap to murder.

"You're right…" I said disbelief in my words. The rain had just started up. Thunder boomed. "He's retarded or something…"

"Now Thalia, that's a possibility, but we can't jump to conclusions. There could be an explanation."

"Like what?" I asked harshly. Annabeth sat in silence for a few seconds. She starred at the floor, attempting to find an answer.

"Remember when you gave Troy his knife?" She asked.

"Yeah, and your point is?" I asked her. She went on.

"You told him he would know when to use the knife, so when he saw you about to be hurt…" Her voice trailed off.

"Oh my gods," I said in astonishment. "It's my fault. In some freaky, twisted way, it all comes back to me." I smacked my own forehead. I looked down at Annabeth. Her beautiful gray eyes looked more disturbed.

"There…is one more possibility." She looked reluctant to say it.

"What?" I asked cautiously.

"Luke." She said.

"What about hi-" I froze. Her expression begged me to get it so she wouldn't have to say it. "You think he may _be _Luke?" I asked, shocked. She slowly nodded her head and her eyes began to get misty.

"He may not _be _him, but he could turn out like him." Annabeth said, her voice began to crack. From where I stood, I had a fairly good view of the partially opened widow. The brightest flash of lightning I had ever seen went before it. The electricity cut off for a second, but came on about three seconds later.  
"What do you mean?" I continued.

"If you had your choice, would you attempt to manipulate a five year old, or a fifteen year old?" Annabeth asked.

"Five, but what does that have to do with anything?" I asked, giving her a look of confusion. At that same instance, I thought I caught a whiff of smoke. I dismissed the feeling as a hallucination.

"Wise decision. Don't you think Kronos would make the same decision?"

Suddenly, it dawned on me exactly what she was trying to communicate.

Kronos was no fool; if he knew Troy was out there, he would try to use him for his own dirty work. Troy was just as powerful as me, Percy, Tyson, and Nico. Annabeth looked at me, and then turned on the TV. It was on the local news station. A young woman sat at a desk with papers. She was Mexican, and wore a red dress outfit.

"And in other news, a local grocery store clerk was murdered today. Resident John Tenner was the victim. The funny thing about this murder, according to eye witnesses, was that the murder was indeed committed by a young boy. The boy is said to be five-year old Troy McCallaster."

A picture of Troy flashed on the screen. It was him, recently, at the park. When he was a normal kid, doing normal things. He was swinging on a swing set and smiling happily.

"The murder was said have been committed when a young girl, perhaps fifteen, walked into the grocery store claiming to be Troy's older sister. It was said that John and the girl began to argue, when young Troy stabbed him in the back with a dagger. Here is an artist rendering of the girl, whose name is unknown"

An artist rendering of me flashed across the screen. It was surprisingly, and terrifyingly accurate. And once again, the smell of smoke grabbed my attention. This time, it was so unbearable I couldn't dismiss it. But I didn't embrace it yet. The news cast was not over.  
"No more is known about this case or this mystery girl, but we hope to find out more once we get a hold of Troy's mother. Back to you Scott."

The scene changed to someone who was on location somewhere in the city, but it wasn't about us, so Annabeth turned it down. She watched me get up.

"Where are you going?" She called to me as I passed through the kitchen. I didn't answer her. I walked into the bedroom to find both the bathroom door and the main door ajar, and smoke was pouring in the room. The light of flames danced against the walls.

_Oh my gods, the hotel is on fire._

I ran back into the TV room, stubbing my toe on the refrigerator in the process. I ignored the pain.

"Annbeth!" I said with a start "The hotel is on fire!"

She stood up as fast as humanly possible.

"What?" She asked on full alert. I said nothing, but I grabbed her wrist and led her through the kitchen. The bedroom was now full of smoke that was making its' way to the kitchen. The smoke was so think I couldn't see at all. The only thing I could see was the light from the bathroom. It was like a glowing presence that lingered just out of touch.

"Where's Troy?" She asked, suddenly alert. She was two feet away, and I had hold of her wrist, but I couldn't see her.

"I don't know." I told her calmly, chocking on a whiff of smoke. Thunder boomed.

"We have to stay together, don't let go if you can help it." Annabeth said knowingly. "If we get separated…" she paused "I'll see you outside."

"What about Troy?" I asked, and began to walk slowly towards the bathroom. I knew that if I could reach it, I could feel our way to the door.

"I don't know." She said. Then a sudden thud broke my concentration, I accidently let go of her wrist.

"What was that?" I called over the smoke and smell of burning wood.

"I think I ran into the wall," she explained "where are you?"

I had kept walking. I don't know why, but I had.

"I don't know, somewhere past the bathroom." I told her. Smoke began to burn my eyes; I closed them for a second.

"I have an idea," yelled Annabeth, "you find a way out, and I'll find a fire alarm. Maybe they have an escape plan to get us down. And if I pull the alarm, it will note the fire department."

"Okay." I called back to her. I could tell we were going opposite ways, because I could no longer here her voice so clearly. I slowed down and started to head for the wall on my right side. I coughed. The smoke was still killing my eyes.

"Annabeth?" I called. No response. "Annabeth?" I yelled louder. Still no response. I hit the wall. And as soon as I hit it, my destination changed. I was going to try to find my little brother.

Suddenly, an alarm blared that was loud enough to wake Zeus. My hands instinctively went to my ears. I traveled with my right shoulder against the wall. Finally, I hit another wall. My hands left my ears and I felt along the wall. Then, I felt something. What was it? A doorknob… The stairwell! I placed the back of my hand against the door. It wasn't hot. I coughed the smoke was _killing me_ I was absolutely sure I was about to pass out because of it. Then who would save me? No one. Annabeth would be expecting me outside, and I'd be dead before a firefighter would get to me. If the building didn't collapse before they could get up here. After all, I was on the sixth floor. I turned the knob. There wasn't much smoke in the stairwell, until I opened the door that is. I slowly descended down the first flight of stairs, firmly grasping the tan railings.

"I can't believe this," I muttered to self, "I finally get to a place with a bed, kitchen and a bathroom, and I didn't even take a shower."

I slowly went down all of the stairs, and put the back of my hand against the door at the bottom. It was hot. The fire was in the lobby. I opened the door, the metal burnt my hand.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

The lobby was almost completely burnt. The leather couches had literally melted. The fancy lamps had surely exploded with the extreme heat, and the desk that sat in the corner of the room was on fire.

"We got business half-blood." boomed a voice from behind me. I turned around. Behind me was a one-eyed Cyclopes. The same one I had fought once before. The one that Luke had killed for me. My very first monster. He even held the same two-handed club.

"Yeah," I replied, reaching for my pocket. "Except this time it's fair!" I yanked my Sharpie out of my pocket and uncapped it. It extended into a sword, reflecting the flames that were in the room. The smoke, was surprisingly not very bad in this room. At least I could see my opponent.

"I took care of you brother, I can take care of you." Boomed the one-eyed wonder.

"What?" I asked. He didn't answer, but he swung his mighty mace in my direction, I dodged. I ran across the room and stood by the flaming couch. I wanted to see if he'd be stupid enough to run through the fire. He was. He ran through the fire and his skin set aflame. Although, it seemed not to bother him. I jabbed with my sword, he pivoted on his toes and returned the blow. His club landed about a foot away, although the impact was enough to knock me off my feet. The Cyclopes let out a terrible cry of frustration. It was loud enough that I was sure my eardrums were going to burst. He bounded in my direction and attempted to club me once more. I rolled out of the way and immediately stabbed my sword in his direction. The sword went directly through his arm. He cried out again, this time in pain. I yanked my sword out of his arm and got to my feet. As I did this, he swiped his arm under my legs, knocking me into the ground. He lifted his club and sent a direct hit to the floor. It landed eerily close to me head and I heard the floor crack. I sent a kick to his side, but my foot bounced off his side like it was made if Jell-O. Suddenly, the room began to shift with a loud terrible noise. The cracking of wood and the breaking of bricks.

_Oh gods, the building is collapsing._

I shot to my feet and sliced my sword. I had to get out of there. The building made another cracking noise and began to shift. One of the windows in the lobby cracked from extreme heat.

That was when I noticed that my pants were on fire, just above the ankle. I picked up a piece of hardened melted leather from the couch and threw it at the monster. It hit him in the eye and he got madder. I ripped a bit of my T-shirt off at the bottom and began swatting mercilessly at the fire on my pant leg.

Then, I heard the sixth floor cave in…

Without thinking I bolted for the glass doors. The Cyclopes was still batting his eyes relentlessly. I hit the glass door (Which had no more glass) and ran out the door, hearing the rest of the building collapse at the same time. I was swept up with debris and the air pushed me along. I began to roll across the sidewalk and into the street.

_Honk! _

An SUV stopped just in time that I didn't get turned into road kill. I kept rolling, I wanted to stop, but I couldn't gain control of myself. I just kept rolling.

I finally stopped rolling when I hit the wall outside of Taco Palace. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed overhead. The wind was blowing harder than I had ever felt it blow.

The hotel had completely collapsed, encasing cars in debris that had fell into the street. I was lucky to be alive. Smoke and dust was floating through the air, being taken wherever the wind blew it.

The upside: No Cyclopes

The downside: No Annabeth or Troy.

**A/N Ellen 26 isn't dead! Sorry... You guys probably don't know her, but she's one of my FF friends, and she recently got hit by a car. She PM'd me to tell me then didn't PM me for another three weeks, so naturally, I assumed she was dead. Anyway, now, for those of you who read my Children of the Prophecy series, you should be getting tierd of doing this, but oh well... rate my story on how boring it is on a scale from ONE to FIVe, one being really boring, and five being not boring at all. I should be getting the hundreth review for this story sometime soon. That reveiwer will be getting...Err...specail mention? Yeah, sure. Specail mention. **


	16. Chapter 16

Troy walked out of the bathroom of his hotel suite he was sharing with Thalia and Anniebeth, he planned to go right back in, so he left the door ajar. All he was doing now was gathering clean clothes from his backpack so he could take a shower. He was still crying. He had gone in the bathroom to cry. He didn't want to look like a big baby in front of Thalia and Anniebeth. He liked Anniebeth. He _really _liked Anniebeth. So he preferred to cry in privacy. He navigated his way through the bedroom. His backpack lay on the bed, as Thalia had probably slug it there. Thalia and Anniebeth were in the other room, talking in real low voices. He could still hear what they were saying, though he only caught scraps of the conversation. He listened for a real long time and the only sure words he got were _Troy, murder, bad and retarded. _He thought he heard something else. Something like "Get rid of Troy."

But as you readers know, that's not what was said at all.

Troy was devastated. This made him cry harder. He kept the whimpers in hushed terms and spared one last glance in the direction of Thalia and Anniebeth. In one swift motion, he yanked up his backpack and bolted for the door. Leaving both the bathroom door, and the main door open. He headed for the elevator in a sprint. He wiped a tear from his face.

_If they don't want me, I don't want them either. I hate them. _He thought to himself. He pushed the button to call the elevator. Truly, he was sad. He didn't want to admit it to even himself, but he loved them, he loved them both. In different ways, of course. He loved Thalia like… a…well like a sister, naturally. But _Anniebeth. _Somewhere in his mind, he had convinced himself that she would be his wife and that they would have three kids and live happily ever after in his home town. Pretty wishful and specific thinking for his age of five, but that was what he wanted. It was still what he wanted.

The elevator doors opened with a _Ding! _And Troy walked in. In the elevator, was a beautiful teenage girl in a cheerleader's outfit. The girl had a pleasant aroma of vanilla cupcakes to her. As he walked in, she smiled brightly.

"Hello." She greeted, renewing her smile.

"Hi." Said Troy in his little-boy voice.

"Which floor?" She asked. He looked down. He hadn't considered that important fact.

"I don't know." He answered shyly.

The girl looked confused, although she really wasn't. She knew she had some at the right time. Kelli the _empousa _knew that Troy the half-blood could be easily swayed.

"What do you mean?" She asked, holding back a guilty grin.

Troy held back for a few minutes. He knew he couldn't possibly explain that his daddy was an immortal god. How he even knew that himself was a mystery.

"Come on," she said in an enchanting voice. "You can tell me."

Her voice was like that of an angel, taking him away in the breeze. Suddenly, he felt like he had known her since he was in diapers and could trust her with anything.

"My daddy's a god." He blurted. Not even thinking about saying "Just kidding" or anything like that. She nodded. "My sister was mean to me. I hate her now." She laughed.

"I know, I know all about you." Said Kelli, instantly regretting it. She thought she would be moving too fast or…

"You do?" Asked Troy. He didn't seemed scared or anything. Kelli nodded.

"I'm…really good friends with your grandfather." Kelli told him.

"Grandfather?" Troy asked, bewildered. He had never met his grandfather before. He didn't even know he had one. The pretty girl nodded again.

"Troy," She began, "you're grandfather is a very busy man. You see, he doesn't get along with your dad and your uncles and aunts. Don't ask why, it's a long story, but in general, you're daddy is a thief. He stole the throne that was rightfully his father's, and sent him away…to a very bad place for a really long time. It was horrible, he has just now escaped and asked for his throne back. Zue- Err you're daddy refused to give it back, so now, you're granddad is forced to take back what is rightfully his. You're daddy doesn't sound too nice, does he?"

"No," Troy answered. The elevator dinged and Troy went to step out. Kelli grabbed him and pulled them back in the elevator. She hit the button that had the number six on it. She continued talking.

"You're sister, is a very bad person. She's on your daddy's side. It's really not fair to your grandfather. Your dad and your sister are bad people. As well as anyone who fight for them."

"Fight?" Asked Troy. That word scared him more than anything.

"Oh, yes." Replied Kelli. "It's truly a sad thing. Your grandfather wanted to avoid it, but your dad made it impossible to avoid."

"What are they fighting for?" He asked. He was getting more information from her than he got from his own sister. He was beginning to think that Thalia didn't love him at all. But he was starting to think that this girl… whatever her name was, loved him. Like a brother, that is.

"They're fighting for America. It used to be Greece, but then it kept shifting. I'm not going to bore you with how, but it happened. Your father and his children have messed up the entire world. Your grandfather is trying to reestablish a perfect civilization. Unlike your father who cares only for himself, your grandfather cares about the way this world runs."

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open on the sixth floor. This time, Troy didn't try to leave; he simply pushed the button to go back to the first floor. Kelli was overjoyed. She knew she had him…she could feel it.

"With that, Troy McCallaster, I must ask, will you come and fight for your grandfather? The side that deserves to win. The side that is right."

"I'm not sure…" His little voice trailed off.

"Troy," She began with a sigh. "Your dad doesn't care for you. He never has. Your grandfather loves you. He wants you to do the right thing. He wants to know you. That's more efforts than your father has thought to take. Your grandfather needs you. He needs you to help him over throw your father. He will repay your loyalty with a position of power once he has settled on his rightful throne. Will you fight for Kronos, your grandfather?"

Troy stood there. He was considering. Kelli could almost see the gears grinding. She had offered him logic, well, sugar-coated logic that is, she offered him power, and most of all she offered him love. If he resisted all that, he was truly a piece of work.

Troy wanted to believe what this girl was telling him. It all sounded so good. What she said really fit, and she sounded sincere… and she was _so _pretty. But still, he couldn't bear the thought of leaving Thalia and Anniebeth. Even if he did hate them.

Kelli picked up on his doubtfulness and quickly devised a plan.

"I'll tell you what," She began as the doors to the elevator slid open and the lobby opened up in front of them. "I'll take you to meet your grandfather, and then you can make your decision." She suggested with a smile.

The boy's expression went from a look of confusion, to a look of happiness.

"Okay!" He said excitedly.

"Excellent." Replied Kelli. "I'm Kelli, by the way." The boy smiled. Kelli put her hand on his back and gave a light push, navigating him out of the elevator. He kept his hands jammed in the pockets of his hoodie, and Kelli wondered why. She led him to the leather couch of the hotel lobby. She gave one last look to the innocent by-standers; more of them were upstairs in a hotel room or suite. And most of them would die from the fire she would set in attempt to kill Troy's older sister and the girl she was with.

But none of that mattered to Kelli; she was focused on getting Troy on her side. For if she did, she would make Kronos happy, and maybe he would resurrect Luke once he was back in power. It was terribly obvious that that fool Percy was going to save the gods, but if Troy was on her side, anything would be possible. Perhaps, Kronos would give him the orders to kill all children of the "Big Three" and wait longer before striking against Olympus, or maybe he had something else in mind.

Kelli knew that one thing was for sure. She had sugar-coated everything. Kronos didn't give a hoot about Troy and would probably kill him once he was back in power. But if Troy refused to join his side, he most definitely have him killed immediately.

**A/N Okay, so maybe you noticed, but if you didn't, that was what happened to Troy before the fire was set. And it is not in Thalia's POV. I got the idea to do this from James Patterson's Maximum Ride series. You see, when his characters are separated from the main character who's POV the series is in, he'll put the chapter of the other people doing their part in no one's POV. It's actually a god idea, and I tend to use it a lot. There will definitely be more chapters about Troy. **

**Ya'll come back now, ya hear?**


	17. Chapter 17

"Annabeth!?" I called, racing through the wreckage that had once been a beautiful hotel. "Troy!?"

It was completely made of ash and debris and covering my pants. Cars that had been passing by on the street were tipped over and covered in black. Tears filled my eyes. Had not even the people on the first floor made it out alive? Or had the Cyclopes, however he'd gotten there, killed them all? Had anyone called the police? Or was I the only one in the city that even knew of the incident. Had the Cyclopes gotten Annabeth? What happened to Troy? I scanned the site with all my might, but I couldn't see a thing. The hurricane was still going on, the worst part, knowing my luck. The black debris and ash were turning to liquid under my feet.

I stopped. A slight gurgling noise was coming from somewhere around where I was standing. I whipped around. Tiny bubbles were forming to the right of where I was standing, a place where the debris had completely liquefied. I rushed over to it and stuck my hand in the oil-looking liquid. I felt around for any sign of someone, when finally, I felt a smooth surface. I grabbed and pulled with more strength then I thought I had. The person came flying out of the liquid ash with a horrible sucking sound. It was a young girl, with blond hair and gray eyes. It was Annabeth. She was pale in the moonlight and bloody everywhere. Her orange camp T-shirt was covered in soot; along with her jeans and the rest of her body. Her eyes were shut, but she was still breathing. She hadn't died…

Yet.

"Annabeth?" I asked in alarm, keeping her head raised above the liquid.

"Thalia," She replied, but her eyes were still closed. "I can't feel my legs, where are my legs?" There was no sense of alarm in her voice. I couldn't see her legs, from the knee cap down was still submerged.

"It's okay," I assured her. "Everything's going to be all right." I held her head closer to me.

"No," she said, opening her eyes, exposing her beautiful knowledgeable gray eyes. "I'm never going to walk again, I can feel it. That is, even if I live."

Her words stung my whole body.

"No, don't talk like that, you're going to be fine." Tears began sliding down my face.

"No," she countered. "My time has run out Thalia, my string has probably been burnt." Suddenly, I realized I had left the box that contained Annabeth's life string in it. It was my fault she was dying. "I should've done more to help with this war. I can't die now Thalia, I just can't." She looked past me and into the night sky. I was speechless. She began coughing, almost instantly; blood began to trickle down her lips. She looked back at me.

"Thalia, I want you to show them what war really is. Show them they started it, and it's their fault they lost. I want you to kill them…kill them all. Don't be like me, I haven't done anything but kill a few monsters, but you, you had the courage to fight for your fathers' side. Your dad should be proud. My Mom has nothing to be proud about. " Her eyes swelled with tears. It was like she was seeing past her accomplishments.

"What do you mean? Your mom has plenty to be proud of." I said. Rain was gently patting against her face. I had a mental picture of Annabeth, smiling and laughing. Her beautiful smile…

"Maybe so," She said. "But, looking back on my life there were so many opportunities I had to make her more proud than she ever had been. That's all I ever wanted. That's all most demigods want. Thalia, tell me, are we sisters?"

"Yes." I replied simply, tears started rolling down my cheeks faster than the rain hit the ground. "We will always be sisters."

Annabeth smiled, as if this was what she had always wanted to hear. I wondered if she had felt like I do right now, when I was turned into a tree.

"Do you promise to never forget me?" Annabeth asked.

"Never."

She smiled again. She lifted her arm slowly to her neck and unhooked her camp necklace with her father's college ring on it.

"Take this, so that I can be sure." She instructed. I took it and grasped it in my hand so tight; I thought the plastic beads were going to crack. I could hear Annabeth's breathing and I knew my time with her was drawing to an end.

"Do you remember when Luke and I found you?" I asked her. Thunder boomed over head.

"Yes," Annabeth said weakly. She smiled up to me.

"I thought I was going to kill you. You would keep making us stop to rest or eat or use the bathroom. But you got used to life on the run and you stopped complaining altogether. Then I started liking you. Now, I can't imagine life without you."

Annabeth was more than my best friend, she was my sister, my daughter (of course she wasn't really), and she was my family. And now she was _dying_ and there was nothing I could do about it.

She lifted her arm up to my face and gently caressed it. "I remember those days clearly. You were more of a mother back then than a friend. But now I'm older and I-"

A terrifying wheeze came as she tried to speak more. I looked upon her beautiful innocent face once more, then suddenly, her face lost its light, her eyes lost they're awing gray shimmer, and her skin went pale with under the moonlight.

"Goodbye, my sister." I managed to get out. I gently laid her body back in the muck, for it would've been useless to attempt to move her. I stood up and went straight into a run. I bolted down the street, passing many closed shops in that little Idaho town. I skidded to a halt when I saw exactly what I wanted. A water fountain. I searched my pockets for a golden drachma. I pulled one out and put my thumb half-way over the water fountain nozzle that was gleaming in the street light.

"O' goddess, accept my offering." I said, my voice painted with tears. The mist gleamed in an inviting manor.

"Percy Jackson, Manhattan, New York." The mist shimmered. Percy appeared in the kitchen of his apartment, in a white shirt and a pair of Bart Simpson sleeping pants. His eyes focused on the mist.

"Thalia?" He asked.

"Percy," I croaked. "How fast can you be in LA?"


	18. Chapter 18

**Three days later**

I woke up to a warming sensation touching my face. I opened my eyes. The sunlight was streaming through the glass doors that led to the third-floor balcony to my lake-side condo. I lay comfortable under my warm comforter. The third floor of this whole condo was a master bedroom. Complete with a double bed, a television on a large entertainment stand in the right-hand corner, and two of the most comfortable red chairs with a coffee table in between them. On the left, side, was a desk-top computer with high-speed internet and on a large, black L-shaped desk, which had loose leaf papers and important documents in manila folder strewn about it. The best part: if I were to get out of bed, and then turn down the small, narrow hallway that led to the staircase that would later lead me to the second floor, I would run into a door on my right-hand side first, which led to a his-and-her bathroom. Complete with double sinks, a single toilet and a double shower. This master-bathroom contained a door that led into a large walk-in closet.

I pushed the large red and yellow floral print blanket off of me. (I know it's lame, but it was hand made by my great aunt. It'd be rude not to use it.) I sat on the edge of the double-bed. My feet felt the cold tile. I took a moment to stop and think. Last night had been my first night sleeping on a bed since I joined the hunters. It had also been the only sleep I had gotten since Annabeth passed on three days ago. I stood up and navigated sleepily toward the glass doors that led to the balcony. I opened the doors and instantly, the crisp autumn air filled the room. I crossed my arms over my chest and walked onto the balcony and took a seat in the plastic picnic chairs that were set to look across the Sednid Lake, on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

I looked out to the lake. Its' pure blue waters seemed to sooth my soul a little. There were only a few people out today, most of them feeding the ducks a variety of breads. The only thing interesting was a woman walking her dog on the side walk that was leading away from the lake. I walked back inside and shut the doors behind me. I walked to the windows and opened the curtains. I walked past the computer and down the small and narrow hallway. I opened the white door and began to descend groggily down the spiral staircase that connected the third floor to the second. I got a clear view of the family room on the second floor. Three red couches gathered around a big-screen TV with surround sound. There was a coffee table in the middle that was accessible to all three couches. I turned the corner, where the kitchen sat unoccupied in the corner of the room. I walked past the small island, which had full grocery bags on it, since I had been too lazy to put the non-perishable items in the cabinet. I slid my hand over the smooth counter as I glided by. I now felt more awake and coherent. I stopped at the refrigerator. I opened it and leaned over so I could see what I wanted. I reached my hand inside and pulled out a bowl of strawberries.

"Yum." I said aloud. I walked back over to the family room and plopped on the couch. I reached for the remote and turned on the big-screen. I must have been watching the end of a sunscreen commercial, because there was a motion-picture of the sun against the light blue sky. The sun had all features of a human face. Including a smiling mouth. He was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses. Then, in a deep voice, the sun looked at the screen and said 'Remember, you can still fry, when there's clouds on the sky.'

"Lame." I said softly to myself.

Suddenly, I saw a movement out the window of one of the bedrooms on the second floor. The door was cracked slightly, so I could barely see what it was. A bright yellow car had pulled in front of my condo.

_Must be Percy, _I thought. I popped a strawberry into my mouth and wiped the excess water onto my pajama bottoms. I sprinted past the kitchen and down the second case of spiral stairs. Past the three minor bedrooms on the first floor and then past the first floor master bedroom. Past the laundry room and onto the front door.

I opened the front door, and, once again, the crisp fall air made contact with my skin. A boy with jet black hair and sea green eyes was stepping out of the cab. He leaned in the window of the driver's seat and handed him a green dollar bill. As soon as the driver took the bill, Percy began to walk briskly up the condo driveway.

"Hey, kid!" Yelled the cab driver. "You want your change or not?"

"Keep it!" Percy yelled back in an impatient tone. Percy looked up at the condo with an awestruck expression on his face. He shifted his backpack to his other shoulder as he began walking up the steps.

"Took you long enough to get here." I told him. He was wearing light blue jeans and a orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt.

"Hey," he said defensively. "You try taking a cab all the way across the country." I rested my hand on the door knob.

"You took a cab all the way here? How did you have enough money for that?" I asked.

"It was sponsored by the Athena cabin. They gave me money because they said whatever I'm doing will most likely have something to do with Annabeth. They were pretty upset when they heard what happened. " He looked down a bit sadly. I tried to change the subject.

"Is Nico still coming?"

"Yeah. But he wants to know why you're gathering us," Percy looked at the condo again. As if he had no questions on why I was gathering all three of us. "How big is this place?"

"Three stories, seven bedrooms and four bathrooms." I told him. He looked at it again.

"How are we going to afford to stay here? Aren't condos _really _expensive?" He asked. I turned around and began typing the pass code to unlock the door on the keypad.

"Not when you own one." I said. The green light on the keypad flashed and let out a loud _beep._

"You _own _this place? How?" He asked. I sighed. He knew I didn't like to open up.

"Percy," I placed my hand on the door knob and pushed it down so it wouldn't relock. "My great grandmother owned the property you're standing on. When she died, my grandmother put a condo on this property for all of us to have family gatherings and stuff. Christmas, Thanksgiving- when she died, she left the condo to my mom, and my mom left it to me." I began to open the door again.

"You're really aloud to keep it even though you're a kid?" He asked.

I clenched my teeth. "Yes. You know how old Luke is, right?" I asked bitterly.

_Was. _I corrected myself in my head.

"Somewhere in his early twenties by now, right?"

"Exactly. I was the same age as him, until I got stuck in that tree, then the aging process was slowed. It says I'm twenty-two on my birth certificate. They think I'm an adult, so therefore, I keep my condo. Now, can we go inside now? Or are you going to keep asking me pointless questions all day?"

_Cool it, Thalia. He lost his best friend too._

I opened the door and walked in the house. I looked back at Percy. He was looking around every corner. Trying to absorb my paradise.

"You can have any room you want, except for the one on the third floor. That one's mine." I told him. I led him up the stairs leading to the second floor.

"Thalia," He said, making his voice lower as if someone was going to hear him. "You know, if you, me, and Nico stay here, the monsters _will _find us. Kronos too, probably. "

"Yes. That's why I'm calling for protection soon." We entered the kitchen on the second floor.

"Who are you calling?" He asked.

"The Hunters. Eggs?" I asked, gesturing to the kitchen.

"Why them? Yes, please." He said.

"Because, we'll have trouble getting permission from Chiron for other half-bloods to protect us on an unknown quest." I cracked and egg over the skillet. "How do you want them?"

"You don't know what we're going to be doing here? Scrambled. " He had pulled up a chair to the cluttered island, and was sitting, watching me cook his eggs.

"I do," I assured him. "But he won't. How many eggs do you want?"

He looked uncomfortable for a second. "What _are _we going to be doing here? Two."

"I'll tell you when Nico gets here. I don't want to explain it more than once."

**A/N Okay, the next chapter will be about Troy. He will finally meet someone who 'cares' about him. What will he do under the circumstances? **


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N Hi people. I just wanted to bring to your attention a very good review with a great point. Storm-Brain said, **run screaming, hopefully.

They should be more emotional. Annabeth just freaking DIED.

**I agree. They should. But upon thinking of a dramatic scene for them, I realized that they would never be emotional around each other, don't you think? **

**I love it when Storm-Brain reviews. I always get constructive criticism from her. **

I lay in the third floor master bedroom bed. My head, throat and stomach hurt. Percy took my temperature and said that I had a fever of 101.1.

Percy opened the door and I heard footsteps down the narrow hallway. He turned the corner, wearing a plain white T-shirt and his Bart Simpson pajama bottoms. He was holding a steaming mug in his hand.

"Here you go," He said, handing me the cup. "Green tea, just for you."

"Thanks," I said, taking the cup from him, when a boy, about eleven or twelve, wearing all black and a skull ring materialized next to him. It was Nico Di Angelo.

His face made him look much older than eleven. He was pale from being in the Underworld without any sun for a while, and a small scar edged out from his lower lip and towards his chin. Bags under his eyes made it look as if he hadn't had a decent night sleep since the last time I saw him. His hair was greasy and matted to his forehead, showing it had been a while since his last shower. He wasn't here when I went to sleep, he must've come during my nap.

"Hey," He said.

"Hi," I told him back. His voice was thin and raspy, as if he hadn't used it since last Christmas.

"Thalia," Percy began. "I know it's not a good time, but now that Nico's here, can you tell us we we're all here?"

I gazed at him coldly, and then I readjusted myself so I could drink my tea. I sipped out of the mug, still staring at him coldly.

"We're here to train." I told him.

"Train?"He asked, looking at me as if I were insane. Maybe I was. "We do that at camp, Thalia."

"Not like this," I told him, setting the mug full of tea on the bed stand. I stood up, instantly feeling dizzy. "We're going to learn stuff that Chiron won't teach us."

"Like what?" Percy asked, crossing his arms.

"Percy, you can control water, that's pretty cool, but think about it. If you could learn to use it better, you could create tsunamis." I said. "Nico, you can raise the dead. If you were trained well enough, you could raise entire armies at your command." Nico seemed to like the idea of being that powerful.

**A/N I'm going to stop you here, because I want your knowledge to be very limited at this point. The next chapter will be the telltale chapter. **


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N So I decided to update this one because I left you guys hanging by a very loose thread the other day, plus, I updated my other stories except this one twice last week. But this update won't be what you expect…**

Troy stared in astonishment, trying to digest everything he was seeing. He looked from left to right. He didn't know where he was exactly, all he knew was that he was somewhere in Canada. He knew that was somewhere next to China because Billy had told him so. Billy was a five year-old kindergartener who said he knew everything. Troy didn't argue, because he hardly knew anything at all. Billy knew all kinds of things that others didn't. From Billy, Troy had learned that Albert Einstein was a famous Spanish opera singer, and all planets in the solar system revolved around the earth. Yes, indeed, Billy was a smart kid.

Troy held Kelli's hand as he walked down the long hall. Paintings hung on the wall of things Troy hadn't seen before, but he still got that feeling that he knew them from somewhere. What did the grown-ups call that feeling? A long carpet was laid on the floor; it was red with gold trim. Troy especially liked it because it matched the one mommy put under the Christmas tree every year during Christmas.

Kelli took good care of him. He got showers, he was never hungry, and, she sang to him before he went to sleep at night.

They turned the corner, and suddenly, Troy saw the ending of the hallway. All it was was a tiny little silver locked door.

"Kelli," Troy asked out-of-the-blue. "Why did we come all the way to Canada?" Kelli squeezed onto his hand a little tighter, as if he were going to leave sometime soon. He looked at her admiringly.

"Because," her reply began. "Your Dad and the other bad people don't rule over Canada, just America. They can't find your grandfather here, and if they do, they can't do anything about it."

Troy looked straight ahead for a few single moments, trying to soak all this new information in. Kelli hoped that he joined Kronos's army, so he could live for a little while longer. Even her, being evil, and a sucker-of-souls per say, she still didn't want to see a young boy die.

"Well," He began again. "If they rule over America and nothing else, than why can't he just rule over Canada?"

Kelli was starting to get annoyed by his constant questions. "Because," She explained patiently, anxiously staring at the silver door. "Do you remember the whole 'Western Civilization' concept I tried to explain to you earlier?"

Troy nodded his little head, though he was sure that she hadn't mentioned it until just now.

"Well, that's why. America is the heart of Western Civilization right now, it's either control America, or nothing at all."

They walked in silence the rest of the way. Troy tried to understand, but his little mind couldn't grasp why a Father and Son would feud as his Daddy and Granddaddy did.

As they approached the door, Kelli stopped. "Open it." She ordered him. He reached for the silver doorknob, excitement broiled in him. He touched the door knob and a pulse of energy raged through him. Pain went up his arm and through his body. The thin hairs on his small arm stood up straight, along with the most of the black hair on his head. He yanked his arm back off the doorknob in reflex.

"It shocked me!" He exclaimed, cradling his hurt arm in his good one. Tears swelled up in his eyes.

"There, there, none of that," Kelli said, using her thumbs to wipe the tears from his innocent face. She wiped the tears from her thumb on her pants. "It only shocked you because you didn't say the magic words."

"Magic words?" Troy asked. His innocent five year-old voice still broken.

"Yes," Kelli pointed to a little box on the wall that Troy hadn't noticed before. There was something that looked like a speaker, right above a large red button. The box itself was the same silvery color as the door and its' knob. "Press the red button, and then say the magic words."

"Will it shock me too?" Asked Troy, his electric blue eyes full of fear.

Kelli laughed a bit, though Troy didn't see the humor in his statement. "No." She said simply. Troy looked up at her trustingly. He didn't know why he trusted her so much. Probably because she gave him answers Thalia wouldn't. He directed his attention back to the button.

He slowly and reluctantly brought his finger up to the button. He gave Kelli one last trusting look. She nodded, as if to tell him that she wouldn't let it hurt him, and for him to trust her, but he still felt a tiny shadow of a doubt. Regardless, he pressed the button. He yanked his hand away from the large red button as if he thought something was going to jump out and grab his hand. Kelli looked at him and prodded him for him to say something for the speaker, which had just clicked on.

"Open sesame." Troy said, looking confident in himself. He smiled broadly. He reached for the door. Kelli pushed his hand down quickly so he wouldn't shock himself again.

"Forget what Ali Baba says," Kelli said. "What dies Troy say? Let the words flow."

Troy uncomprehendingly stared at her. She reached out and pushed the red button fir him. He looked up at her. She prodded him wordlessly. Troy stared at the little silver box. He decided to say gibberish that just came to him.

«Για τους τιτάνες» He said. Kelli jerked back. She hadn't expected him to get it at all. But he had said the words. In perfect Greek. _For the Titans._ A devious smile unfurled on her lips. Lord Kronos would be especially pleased of this news. She extended her hands and turned the knob. It twisted and clicked, letting Kelli in the door. She led Troy into Kronos's lair.

It was almost pitch black. What Troy _could_ see was very dim, although he captured pictures in his head of what it would look like in the light. The place reeked like decomposing humanoids. Troy could not tell how large the room was. Also, he couldn't tell where he was in the room. The door had shut behind them, and now, it was pitch black. Fear rose in Troy, even as Kelli's guiding hand gently rose to his back and pushed him forward.

"Approach, son of Zeus," A voice reached out from the blanket of black. It was dark, deep, and somewhat powerful. Shivers went down Troy's spine. The room suddenly got colder. Could that eerie voice belong to his Grandpa? The man he had wanted to meet? Troy hadn't moved a muscle, that is, until Kelli pushed him a tad…just to get him going. Troy was terrified; he looked down into the perilous black that seemed to have no end. He couldn't tell if his eyes were opened or closed…that is, until he heard a light clicking noise and the stone floor he was looking at began to reflect a forlorn light. Still, Troy didn't look up.

"Let me get a look at your face." The man demanded, not meanly, but not exactly Troy's definition of nice either. Troy didn't want to see anything that would scare him. After all, he still had his Mommy check for monsters in the closet every once in a while. Reluctantly, Troy looked up. He saw the beginning of a stone throne that wasn't a separate chair. It simply molded from the floor.

He looked skeptically. The man he was looking at couldn't be his grandfather. He was no older than twenty-something. He was holding a sword in his right hand-the side of which was now lighted by something similar to a torch. He was shocked to notice the torch was being balanced by real human skulls. He looked at the man on the stone chair once more. The man snapped with his left hand, and all of a sudden, the torch on his left-hand side flickered to life. He could now see the man more clearly. He had sandy colored hair and a scar on his face. He wore a lifeless robe that hung over his entire body. There was a hood dangling from it, but the man wasn't wearing it.

"Ah," He said. "You look most like your father. Too bad he's the one I hate the most, or you might actually be considered good-looking." Troy said nothing. He was shocked by how much the man's voice didn't seem to go with his body. Fear stayed with Troy.

"I hear you're considering joining me to make things right again, yes?" He asked Troy. He nodded reluctantly. "Do you know how to speak?" The man asked snidely.

"Yes," Troy said shyly, quietly.

"Yes, _what?" _Kronos hissed.

"Yes, sir," Troy corrected himself, looking down bashfully.

"Good," Kronos said, locking eyes with Troy as he looked up again. "That's the first thing you ought to know when you're in my presence. Always treat me with respect, or pay the price."

"Yes, sir," Troy repeated more shyly.

"Second," He continued. "Know that, by blood, I am your Grandfather. But I do not like to associate myself with your wretched life-form of a Father, understood?"

"Yes, sir," Troy repeated for the third time. He was beginning to get tired of saying it.

"Without further a due, is there anything you'd like to ask as to why you should join me?"

Troy thought for a few moments. He had a million questions, but didn't want to ask the lot of them.

"Why do you hate my Father?" He got straight to the point. His Grandfather gave a hearty-but still eerie- laugh.

"You don't beat around the bush, do you?" He asked. He didn't pause for a reply. "Your father is ill mannered, and cares for no one but himself. He stole my throne, which he would have inherited eventually. He was jealous. He was the youngest. I believe he figured he would never get a share on the throne…that I, or one of his brothers, would find a way to stay on the throne forever…which he has done, need I mind you."

"He doesn't sound nice-" Troy began.

"And he isn't!" Kronos added. "He stuck his brother in the Underworld. His own brother! And hasn't thought anything about it since. Guaranteed."

"What will happen if I do join your side?" Troy asked. "Will there be deaths?"

"Yes," Kronos said. He was about to lie through his teeth. "I'm sorry to say that my children have left me no choice but to use force to reinsert myself back where I belong. Will you help me?"

Troy _did _want to help him. He really did, but the thought of people dying over a position of power didn't seem right to him.

Kronos saw the doubt in Troy's eyes and thought distastefully of him. All he had to do was lie more. Mostly, what he would be saying now wouldn't be a lie.

"You're Father doesn't care for you either. He always leaves his children to their mortal parents. Simply because he _doesn't _care. Not for you… and not for Thalia either. Join me, I care."

"Alright," Troy said, without another moment's hesitation. All of a sudden, he felt confident it was the right thing to do."

Kronos smiled a wicked smile. "Kneel," He ordered simply. Troy had learned fast to do exactly as his Grandfather told him to. He got down and one knee and bent his head downwards.

Suddenly, he felt the cold blade of the sword that his grandfather held on his bare skin. He looked a the tip and recognized it immediately. _That's the sword Anniebeth had!_ Troy thought, but the thought was instantly lost. A bright purple glow distracted his peripheral vision. Suddenly, he felt odd. His stomach began to bend and stretch, as if he were going to throw-up all over his grandfather's throne. He hadn't known his grandfather very long, but he knew that that would upset him. The sick feeling began to spread all over his body. It turned into searing pain. He began to choke. Every time he coughed, it felt as if fire was setting in his vocal chords. He crawled across the floor, desperate for something that would stop the pain. The stone floor seemed to feel cooler under his hands. He gasped for air, but none passed through his lungs. The pain began to make him weak, but all the while he was growing bigger, stronger.

And then, the pain just stopped. No warning, no slowly decreasing, it just simply stopped. He lay on the floor. His lungs desperate for air. He panted, but there seemed not to be enough oxygen in the world to satisfy his needs right now. He finally gathered enough energy to get up and walk across the half-lighted room. He walked by and to him, he seemed…well…taller. Kelli stood diagonal from Kronos's throne, a shocked look on her pretty face.

"What?" He asked. He reeled his head back in surprise. His little boy voice-the voice of a five year-old- wasn't there anymore. Instead, his voice was deeper, more grown-up. He turned to Kronos.

"What happened to me?" He demanded, still trying to get used to his new voice. He knew instantly that Kronos would punish him for his past sentence, but at the moment, he didn't really care. When Kronos didn't get mad, he stood in shock. Kronos sat on his stone throne, a smug smile painted across his lips.

"See for yourself," Kronos told him. He held the flat of Annabeth's old sword's blade proportional to Troy's face. He did a double-take. He realized that the face he was looking at wasn't his.

Wait, the face was his… But older. Kronos had made him older!

"What…" His voice trailed off. He touched his face to see if it was real. It was for sure. "How old am I?"

"Approximately thirteen, for now," His Grandfather explained. Troy redirected his attention from the flat of the blade, to his Grandfather.

"For now?" He repeated. His Grandfather smiled wider.

"Yes," He began. "To do exactly what I need done, you must be sixteen. That will be in about a week or so. You're aging will temporarily stop there, but will resume when I give it permission to do so."

"Alright…that's not freaky in the least bit…" Troy said sarcastically. Kronos stiffened.

"Listen boy," He said. "I may have placed your age in the middle of puberty, but that's no excuse to get cocky or sarcastic with me, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Troy said, turning bright red.

_Is it too late to switch back? _He thought to himself. He saw Kronos studying him.

"There's just one thing I'd like to do to make you look more…threatening." Kronos said. Troy looked up at him. Without warning, Kronos slashed at Troy's face with the sword in his hand. Across his cheek, pain began to rise again. He clutched his hand to his cheek. "Go wash that off. One of the guards will lead you."

Troy followed his Grandfather's instructions to avoid another scar.

Kelli watched him leave. She acknowledged Kronos.

"Well, well," Kronos teased. "What a brilliant young actress."

"Thank you," Kelli said. It was rare to get even a smidgen of a compliment from the Titan Lord. She felt honored. "If I may ask, why did you speed his age?"

"Because," He said. "I needed him to be sixteen. I believe I just explained that."

"Yes, sir, but why not wait for him to become sixteen naturally, that'd give him more time to train for the war-"

"Yes, but it would also give the gods a chance to use that wretched son of Poseidon against us."

"Oh, right," Kelli said. She felt stupid.

"Send the word to Camp Half-blood," He said. "The war will be in two weeks from this day."

"Sir," Kelli began again. "Why tell them of the war. Wouldn't we have the advantage if we snuck up on them?"

"I don't see how you could say that. We'd never make it inside the boundaries of the camp." He told her. The bluntness stung her.

"I see," She said.

"No, we have all the advantage we need. My plan has worked perfectly so far." He told her.

"Plan, sir?" She asked, sounding foolishly like a pirate. She looked on his face-the face which used to be Luke's.

"Yes," he said. "As long as Troy's sister, Thalia, is it? Doesn't find out that most of what she experienced was a lie. When she 'killed' Luke and stole his sword. I'm proof she never did anything like that. And when her friend, Annabeth, died, it wasn't really her. It was her clone."

"Clone?" Kellie asked, and quickly added the word, "Sir,"

"Yes, you see, we kidnapped the daughter of Athena months before the operation started. So the girl Thalia rescued from the 'titan base' was an exact copy. Made by magic."

"Why was it necessary to have her as part of the 'plan'?" Kelli asked. Using the word 'plan' very loosely.

"Because," Kronos said, getting frustrated. "Let me lay it out for you: Thalia kills 'Luke'. She gets sad. She finds 'Annabeth' and slowly her spirit is lifted. And then, 'Annabeth' is crushed ad killed. She gets sad again. She calls on her dear cousin Percy to help her with her sadness-or whatever they may be doing- and they are out of the way for the upcoming war. Our three biggest threats-and honestly, I hadn't counted on the son of Hades to join them, but he did- out of the way. All of them. Leaving us free to start a war without them getting in the way."

"And the girl-Annabeth- the real one, where is she?" Kelli asked. Purposely leaving the word 'sir' out. Kronos didn't seem to mind…or notice.

"Dungeon. Has been for months." Kronos said. "And there she will stay."

"But, sir, what if they realize their stories don't match each others', and they head off to camp, and find it abandoned, or they head to the war zone for some reason?"

Kronos was getting impatient. "Their stories _will_ match. That's why we kidnapped Annabeth so long ago. Thalia found her in a dungeon! Annabeth has been missing from camp for at least three months. About the same amount of time the fake Annabeth told Thalia she was locked in the dungeon. The son of Poseidon will think that she had been kidnapped and taken to the same dungeon Thalia 'stumbled' upon."

Kelli attempted to understand. "But what if…by the slightest possibility, the children of the Big three do find out about the war and make it there in time, what will happen then?"

"I've got my own plan for if that does happen. But if they don't get contacted from camp, or contact the camp themselves, they will never know."

"Wait," Kelli said and used an out-of-the-blue question on him. "How come Chiron didn't alert any of the Hunters to Annabeth's strange disappearance?"

"The Hunters hardly ever receive information – unless of course, it's dire information."

"Do you think Troy will be ready in a week or so?" Kelli asked.

"Of course he will," Kronos said. "I'll train him myself."

A small smirk crossed Kronos's twisted face. It sent shivers down even Kelli's spine.

She wondered what would truly happen if he did succeed.

**A/N Probably my most confusing update. This chapter was VITALLY important. If you got confused read it again. **


	21. Chapter 21

"Saeva!" I cried, throwing my arms around her. It was three days after I got my fever to lift, and during the time I had the fever, I had Iris-Messaged Artemis and the Hunters. They were all glad to see me, some even cried. There was Saeva and Zana, and Amity and of course, Elana, but she wasn't happy at all. There were some new hunters I didn't know too.

But right now, standing in front of me, was one of my best friends. She stood in the door frame, staring at me tiredly, a weak grin on her face.

"Where's everyone else? Are they hurt?" I said, panicking unnecessarily. Saeva laughed.

"They're fine, Artemis sent me ahead while they went to a pizza parlor, they claimed to be starving."

She kept her smile, but something in her eyes told me there was something wrong.

"Are you alright?" I asked sympathetically, closing the door behind her as she walked in. She looked around nervously, as if avoiding my question. Her expression was lifeless and distant as she ran her fingers across the white wall next to my laundry room. "Saeva?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine," she said, blushing. "I just…didn't expect to see you again. I don't even know what happened to you after I passed out."

"I had a little…detour, but I'm fine now. And we're back together again, all of us." I said as I beckoned for her to follow me up the first flight of stairs. She followed silently, but her expression grew dull when she walked into the kitchen and Nico and Percy playing cards at the bar. They paused and looked up at her in surprise.

"Uh, hi," She said, embarrassed. She whirled around. "Thalia, you didn't tell me you were staying in a private beach condo with two boys."

"Chill out," I told her, walking over to the bar. "They're my cousins."

"Oh, I see" said Saeva, but she still didn't seem thoroughly convinced.

I introduced them. They nodded awkwardly to each other. Saeva pushed a tuft of greasy blonde hair from her eyes. I hadn't noticed before, but her skin was caked in dirt, and small scratches walked up her arms.

"Well, Lady Artemis told me to give a message to your house guests, now I see why they are forbidden to travel with us," she looked at them. "Lady Artemis has arranged transportation to Camp Half-Blood for you two. Don't ask me any questions, because I guarantee that I cannot answer them."

"Why do we need to go to camp, is there something wrong?" Nico asked. Saeva ignored him.

"Thalia, is there a place that I can freshen up?" She asked, trying hard not to make eye contact with the boys.

"There's a Jacuzzi in the downstairs master bedroom, or if you prefer, a double headed shower in the upstairs master bedroom."

"I'll use the upstairs one," She said, and began searching for the staircase.

"I'll show you up," I told her. Nico and Percy went back to their game as we ascended up the stairs. I led her into the third floor master bedroom, and into the bathroom.

"So my roommates weren't exactly what you expected?" I asked, amused.

"Hardly," She said. "I expected to meet that sister of mine you're always talking about."

I glanced away guiltily for a second. "She's dead," I said, trying to cover the sadness in my voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Saeva.

"It's fine," I replied, eager to change the subject. "I'll turn on the water for you."

I looked in her storm-gray eyes, and again, saw the same sadness as I did when she had first arrived. There was definitely something wrong with her.

--1--

I walked down the stairs and joined Percy and Nico at the bar. I pulled a seat up next to Percy.

"She's a charmer," said Nico sarcastically, not looking up from his cards.

"Give her a break. I think something's bothering her. She's not acting like her usual 'I know everything'."

"Maybe she's emotionally scarred or something," Percy offered.

"What would she be 'emotionally scarred' about?" I asked disbelievingly.

"Maybe she had her heart set on not seeing you again," Nico joked. We laughed a little. Percy's smile suddenly faded.

"Thalia?" He asked, keeping his poker face on.

"Yeah?"

"Where did you find Annabeth?" He asked. The question hit me hard. I knew they would come from him eventually, but I didn't want them to.

"In a dungeon, in the main Titan base," I told him uncomfortably. Percy paled a little.

"Who put her there?" He asked, shifting uncomfortably.

"Luke," I responded, even if I didn't know if it were the truth. Percy looked away from his cards, shock coming over his face like a wave in the ocean.

"That's not possible," He said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Kronos is Luke… Luke is Kronos… I saw it, only a few months before Annabeth disappeared. Annabeth knew it…Nico was there,"

"Percy?" I asked, getting worried. "Are you alright?"

"No," He answered. "Thalia, Luke couldn't have put Annabeth in that cell, Kronos has control over his body."

"What?" I asked. He nodded. "But that means I couldn't have killed…"

_That means I couldn't have killed Luke. _

"What?" Percy asked. "Did you say _killed_?"

I ignored his question. A flurry of fear, happiness, relief, sadness and anger began boiling inside my stomach.

"I have to go," I said. I set my cards on the table.

"What? Why?" Nico asked. "Are you alright?"

"Just peachy," I said meanly. I began to get a stress educed head ache as my eyes swelled up in tears. I headed for the stairs at a brisk pace.

All that stress, all the pain, and guilt, it was for nothing. All the running…oh gods all the running, it was unnecessary. All the people I killed, the little brother that had gone missing, and Annabeth, oh Annabeth.

Wait… if Luke was some sort of clone, isn't it impossible that the Annabeth I had with me was a clone? T

That's unlikely, since Athena went with us to the hospital, and didn't even suspect a thing. I gave that Annabeth – real or fake – Backbiter, unless that was fake, too.

_I'm going crazy, _I told myself. _I don't know who I can trust anymore. How do I know I'm real? All the real people – Percy, Nico, Saeva, how do I know that they're not just sharing the same illusion that is me? _

Once in my room, I headed straight for my closet and opened the door. I grabbed my backpack and stuffed my clothes in it. I let it hang loose over my shoulder as I grabbed my belt that carried vials of various poisons. I ran my fingers over the flawless black leather. I guided my fingers to the vial of poison that killed 'Luke'. I swarm of emotions gathered in the pit of my stomach, as memories of my journey with 'Annabeth' and Troy came flooding back to me in one overwhelming second. A tear or two slowly progressed down my cheek.

_Why me?_

"_**Are we sisters?" Annabeth asked. **_

"_**Yes," I choked. "We will always be sisters," **_

"I'm going to find out the truth, and when I do, I'm going to slice Kronos up so badly, he'll never come back." I assured myself aloud.

"Thalia?" Asked Saeva, coming from the bathroom behind me. She was combing her long, blond hair. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," I said flatly, not willing to look at her.

"Thalia, I know these are hard times, but you can't-" She stopped, and looked out the glass doors that led onto the balcony. The shades were closed, but I could plainly see something moving out on the balcony.

"Don't move," I ordered. I stuck my hand in my pocket and grabbed my Sharpie, I uncapped it and it extended into a sword. With my free hand, I grabbed the doorknob that was hidden behind the shades, and slid it opened.  
I jumped through the shades and onto the balcony. Before I saw anything, I felt the cool, fall morning air on my skin.

But when my vision caught up with me, I was shocked at what I'd found.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N really sorry it's been a while, school crap and all that. I didn't realize I'd left you guys on a cliff like that. Oops. Oh well, enjoy. 11/11/08. I put the date so you guys will know when I started the chapter, and when I finished it, could be today, could be next year. **

"Zana?" I asked, shielding my eyes with my hand.

"Thalia!" she cried, and threw her arms around me. "I thought you were dead!"

"I thought you were dead," I assured her, pulling away from her grasp. Her sandy hair looked as if it hadn't been brushed for days. Her bow and quiver were casually thrown over her shoulder. A small satchel hung loosely from her opposing shoulder.

"Zana?" Asked Saeva, coming from inside my room and on to the balcony. "Artemis told you to stay at camp." She said snidely.

"Yeah? So?" Asked Zana, folding her arms across her chest.

"_So _You broke the rules." Sava said in a cocky tone.

"I can think of a couple rules you've broken lately, Saeva." Responded Zana in an angry tone. Saeva looked at me quickly, face flushed and red. She quickly changed the subject.

"Why are you here anyway?" She asked in a nicer tone. Zana began to dig in her satchel.

"To warn Thalia," She looked at me for a second with a face that was serious as I'd ever seen it. "Artemis told me to tell you, the police are on their way."

She pulled out a pair of basketball-issue shoes and handed them to me. "Put those on."

"What? Why are the police after me?" I asked, sitting in one of the picnic tables and starting to take my left shoe off. She handed a pair of shoes to Saeva and rolled her eyes.

_I wonder what's going on with those two._

"Artemis said they wanted you for the arson of The Sunrise Inn and the disappearance of a boy named Troy McAlister."

"That wasn't arson!" I cried, putting the right shoe on my foot. "Well, even if it was, I didn't set it on fire. And as for Troy, he left me. I don't know where he is."

Saeva had quickly switched shoes. "It doesn't matter. We have to go!" She said quickly. She yanked me out of my seat by my arm, when a screech came from the distance. It was ear shattering and high pitched, I plugged my ears, but my hands weren't enough. Soon enough, the air was full of evil bird-like screeches. They ceased after a few short seconds.

"Did I mention I was being chased by harpies?" Zana asked.

"Nope," I said casually.

"We've got to outrun them. We have no choice. From the sound of those screeches there's at least thirty of them." Saeva said.

"Actually, I lost count at fifty." Zana said, as if it were no big deal.

"_Fifty!"_ Exclaimed Saeva. "And you lead them right to her?"

"Chill, Saeva, we can handle this." I said, holding her shoulder. I turned my attention to the sky, and asked a question to Zana. "Why'd they follow you this far?"

"They're looking for you. I thought I'd lost them. I'm sorry." Zana said, more pitiful than I'd seen her ever be.

"It's fine. Why are they looking for me?" I asked.

"Kronos wants you out of the way so he can beat Chiron in the war or something like that. _Maia!"_

"_What?!" _I cried. But Zana had taken off. "Maia." I said unconfidently, and the shoes I was wearing responded. I began to slowly ascend in to the air. I was wobbling ungracefully, slinging my hands around clumsily trying to stay in the air. Then I heard them. Police sirens, far in the distance. I straightened my body up, trying to gain speed. I kicked through the air, and went soaring. I balanced myself, so that I looked like a superhero, flowing through the sky naturally. Breathing with the wind, letting it take me wherever. I caught up to Zana, and Saeva was behind me.

"It's amazing, the things people will do in desperate times." Zana said, making eye contact with me, but keeping her eyes in front of her most of the time. Her hair flew through the wind and in front of her eyes. Sometimes it went into her mouth, and she hand to spit it out. She squinted her eyes to keep the wind out of them.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, taking a mouthful of hair myself. I could vaguely see the tips of my eye lashes as I squinted.

"Well, it's no secret that you're afraid of heights, and…" Her voice trailed off over the roar of the wind.

_Oh my gods, _I thought. _How could I forget my fear of heights? Don't look down, Thalia, everything will be alright. You're not dead yet, nor are you plummeting downwards at a gazillion miles per hour. Everything will be fine Just Don't look down._

I looked down. The road was right under us, and the police sirens grew louder. Trees, cars and of course, people looked as if they were part of an ant colony. My breathing grew heavier and my vision blurred as I pictured myself falling towards the ground and hitting the road, or the ground by it, turning myself into a demigod pancake. I couldn't breathe. The wind was hitting my face and I continued to fly, but I could breathe.

"Thalia?" Asked Zana, as she grabbed onto my shoulder with her hand. "Are you okay?"

I couldn't speak. The wind dried my tears instantly. Zana somehow managed to get her flying to stop altogether, but she hovered in mid-air. She held my shoulder firmly, keeping me from flying any further.

"Let go of me!" I yelled. "If I go down, I don't want you to go with me." I pushed her hand off my shoulder, and took another look downward. We were now standing upright in mid air, almost like we would if we were on the ground. The cars seemed to look smaller; the road seemed to be thinner. Saeva hadn't caught up with us yet.

"I want to go down." I said shakily. I shifted my weight, and did a minor flip in the air, causing me to turn upside down, to where my head was pointing to the ground. I kicked, and began to gain speed as I hurled to the ground. A hand grabbed my ankle, keeping me from flying again. My ankle was yanked upwards, and I flew through the air. Hardly able to keep my balance. Terror went through me as I began to fall, face first towards the ground. I screamed, but it was lost in the wind. The ground drew closer at unbelievable speed. I gained speed as I soared through the air. I felt like a meteor that had actually made it to this level of the earth's atmosphere, and now, all that was left to do was fall, crash and die.

Wind passed loudly through my hair, my cheeks grew irritated and wind-whipped.

Suddenly, I stopped. Just stopped. I had caught balance again somehow. My shoes left me lingering in the air. I flipped myself upright.

"Are you nuts?!" Called Zana, she was passing through the sky effortlessly.

"I-" I began. But was interrupted.

"Fly, Thalia! Fly!" Called Saeva from the distance. She was much higher than me, as was Zana, but Saeva was higher than all of us. Police sirens blared louder than before. Cars had pulled over onto the side if the road and drivers stepped out of their vehicles, looking up into the sky, their hands cupped over their brow. They kept randomly pointing in the sky.

I redirected my attention to Saeva. She flew frantically, and faster than either Zana or myself had gone. A dark cloud followed her. A raincloud? Some sort of freaky high-tech battle jet?

Saeva must've made the connection faster than I did. She strung her bow. She aimed for a few seconds as I watched. Saeva flew directly over the road, and the cloud-thing followed.

"Go!" She repeated. I didn't see why she wanted me to leave. Until, that is, Zana shot the arrow. It flew through the air untouched, with great speed and accuracy. I hardly had time to wish I could shoot with such precision and delicacy. The arrow didn't wobble in the air awkwardly, or anything like mine did. It flew through the air, until it disappeared into the black shadow.

I looked at Zana, who desperately looked downwards. Suddenly, a piece of the cloud fell with a loud screech. That's when I realized it was a harpy. The whole cloud was a harpy. The bird-woman twisted and turned through the air, her lifeless body turned a flip and the crowd below gasped. People began running and screaming, a few hopped in their car and drove the opposite direction, trying to avoid being hit by the harpy. People whipped out their cell phones and dialed three numbers, and then held it up to their ears. The bird-lady came closer to the ground, after whizzing past my eye-level, until she a loud sound came from below. She had landed on the windshield of a green mini-van, and instantly turned to dust. The people below dodged shards of broken glass. Rage filled in me as a little girl, about three, was stricken in the face by a large shard of glass. Her face began to drip red from her left cheek. My hand slid in my pocket and I grabbed my Sharpie, uncapped it and waited for the harpies to reach us.

All of a sudden, a large amount of the group broke away and headed straight for the civilians.

"What are they doing?" Asked Zana, shooting another arrow in Saeva's direction.

"Maybe they think I'm down there. They _are _harpies. And harpies aren't known for intelligence." I replied.

"Thalia, you go, we'll hold them off as long as we can." Zana said, watching another harpy plummet to the earth because of her keen shot.

"No, I'm not leaving you again," I said. And kicked off towards the ground. Which would technically mean I would be leaving them, but someone had to defend the civilians.

I wisped downwards at an unbelievable speed. I drew closer and closer to the cars below, faster than I had when I was falling, it was somewhat different, but this time I had complete control. Faster, and faster I headed for the ground, when the familiar mental image of me crashing into the ground below filled my head. I realized that I hadn't even thought about my fear of heights in all the confusion. Now that I thought about it, I felt free in the sky; after all, it was my Father's domain.

At the last second I yanked my body upwards, listening to gasps and screams from the crowd. I whizzed back in the air and then slowly began to descend, landing feet first and gently on the grass.

The girl with the glass in her face looked up at me astonished.

"Get away from us, you…you witch!" yelled her mother, holding her daughter tightly against her side. I ignored her comment and looked up at the sky. The harpies came down at a slow and steady pace. Many of the innocent bystanders had jumped in their car and sped away, but there was a select few that stayed.

"She aint' a witch!" Called a farmer, who was casually leaning against his dirty pick-up truck. A straw hat kept me from seeing his eyes. "She's one of them flying aliens that you here about on the television!"

The harpies were almost upon us, creeping closer every second.

"No she's not!" Cried the little girl with the glass in her head. "She's a superhero! Like Wonder-woman and Malibu Barbie!"

_Malibu Barbie?_

"Yeah," I said, giving a casual smile to reassure her. "Something like that."

She smiled, though her face was drenched in tears.

"With every hero, there has to be a villain." said a voice from behind the crowd. It was dry and weary. The crowd opened a pathway for the boy, around fifteen, stepped up. He had a silver shield with red trim strapped to his arm. A sword was sheathed at his waist. He had greasy and matted black hair, so much so, it looked wet. A scar went across his face, and a black eye kept him looking mean. His electric blue eyes fixed on me.

"Hello, Thalia," He said. "Miss me?"

I raised my sword a bit. "Who are you?" I asked in a whisper. The mother grabbed her child by the arm and dragged her back to their red SUV. The engine roared to life and the sped down the road. The boy grinned an evil grin.

"Oh, you know who I am." He said. "I'll give you a hint. I'm the brother you never wanted."

"Oh, come on!" Cried a guy in the crowd. "What is this? A filming of a soap opera?"

"Shut up!" The boy snapped. The man held his hands up in defeat.

"Troy?" I asked, taking a closer look. I could see no resemblance. "Wait, you can't be Troy. He's five."

"I _was _five. Until I switched sides. To the side that's right. Kronos is taking care of me Thalia, he'll take care of you."

Sirens grew closer as the harpies landed. Troy and I stood in place, but the civilians ran to their cars. The harpies screeched and hissed at them while lashing out their talons.

"Be gone," Troy commanded "Lord Kronos gave me strict orders to deal with my sister. Go destroy her friends." The harpies did as they were told. "That's another thing, Thalia. I have power now. Power over the harpies, some of the army troops, the harpies. And I have power over _you._"

I crossed my arms snidely over my chest. "As if I'm going to let a five year-old boss me around."

"I'm _fifteen!_" he snapped. "I didn't come here to argue with you, Thalia. I came here to give you an option. Need I mind you that this is what Kronos is telling me to say, I was all against it. But he can be…persuasive. He wants you to join up with the Titans. You'll be the same rank as me, and we'll both share power once the war is over as honorary Titans."

"_Join _you?" I asked. "I'm not even thoroughly convinced you're Troy." I said, stalling.

"I am," he said. "If you say no, I'll have to kill you."

"Really?" I asked. "Then read my lips. N-O"

"Can't say I'm sorry you feel that way, Thalia."

He drew his sword and lunged immediately. "Maia!" I called, and flew straight up into the air, dodging the blow.

"What the-?" asked Troy, looking up into the sky. A harpy fell past me and onto the ground. An arrow protruding from its leathery chest. I looked up. Saeva and Zana were fighting back-to-back in midair. Arrows flying from their bows every two seconds or so. I flew back downwards towards Troy. Swung my sword at where his head was, but he lifted his shield at the last second. Our battle reminded me of _Peter Pan_. The parts where Peter and Captain Hook fought as Peter flew over head.

I leveled myself closer to him. He swung, I dodged.

"Pornoc Allakay Siemster Yark!" He called. A lightning bolt flashed from the sky, and hit the land right beside me. The grass smoked and was as black as the nighttime sky. I looked at Troy. Had he done that?

By this time, harpies were dropping out of the sky like flies. Troy was breathing hard. I had scraped him a few times, but he hadn't hit me. He charged once more, jumping, not giving me enough time to dodge. His sword scraped against my left leg. Blood instantly rose to the break in my skin. I cried out in pain and, in reflex, violently extending my foot outwards at a fast motion.

In other words; I kicked him in his head.

He wobbled back in pain, trying to keep his balance. One of his palms covered his already-blackened eye. He removed his hand exposing an eye that was filled with blood. I looked at him, a small smug grin on my face. He laughed, all of a sudden. I became confused. Until, that is, the harpy from above crashed into me, dragging me to the ground. I hit the ground with a hard thud. I knew I would have a few bruises in the morning. The harpy lay on top of me, then she burst into dust.

"Gross," I said aloud. Troy stood over me. A laugh came from his mouth. His bloodshot eye took him from looking mean, to looking evil. But somewhere, somewhere deep inside, I saw the face of that little five-year old boy, crying for help from his big sister. Suddenly, his face went red. His eyes full of pain. He brought his hand up and snapped half of the arrow off that was sticking out of his shoulder. He looked at the archer responsible for the arrow, who was none other than Saeva. Zana fought alongside her, trying to kill the last of the harpies.

_Where's my sword? _I thought desperately. I looked frantically, but it was nowhere in sight. My heart stopped for a short second as a golden sword came flying through the air. It landed next to my head, with only the vibrations in the ground to prove I wasn't hallucinating. The sword was made of pure gold the sparkled in the sun. It was formed in a zig-zag shape; the shape of a lightning bolt. It was double-bladed, giving it a 3D look. In the hilt, an eagle in mid flight was carved. Assuring me it was a gift from Zeus. The sword was made entirely of gold.

Troy hadn't noticed he looked up in the sky, only leaving me the sight of the back of his head. I reached for the sword. I needed more time to keep from being killed by my own brother. I extended my foot as hard as possible. My leg reached far enough that I kicked him in his crotch. He immediately leaned over in pain. I yanked the sword from the ground and jerked myself from the ground. I raised the hilt of my sword over his head and…

"Freeze!" Shouted a police officer with a mega-phone. "Put your hands where I can see them. You girls are in a lot of trouble."  
_Girls? _I thought, and then noticed that Saeva and Zana were on the ground with their hands above their heads.

I looked around. A van that had its windshield completely broken, three girls who look like they just got out of a brutal fight-which we did-and a fifteen year-old boy with his leaning over on the ground.

This didn't look good. Wait, _where's Troy?_ I looked a second time. But he was gone. Vanished into thin air.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N You guys… I'm sorry to say this story is almost over. I predict no more than five chapters left.**

**However, I'm pleased to announce the sequel. I can't give any information on it because it would ruin the end of this story. I can, however, say the name of the sequel. **_**Heroes of the Redemption Flame.**_

**By the way, I really like my smart reviewers. You guys are awesome about the whole 'gold is too soft to be a sword' thing. But trust me, I had it under control. I think I'm putting the explanation in this chapter.**

"You girls are in a load of trouble," said the cop. All three of us sat on the opposite end of the table as him. He was prematurely bald with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He wasn't the skinniest man, but he wasn't the fattest either. His chair was turned backwards. The other cop leaned casually by the door, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"You can't prove anything," Zana said, starring at the sitting cop coldly. "For all you know, we were innocent bystanders beside that rode."

"Young lady," the standing cop said, approaching the table. "There were reports of unidentified flying humanoids, cars were vandalized, there were car crashes, people got hurt, a man _died. _As far as we are concerned there were no innocent bystanders."

"Died?" Saeva asked disbelievingly. The sitting cop nodded.

"Now tell us _exactly _what happened." The sitting cop said.

"No," I said. They all looked at me as if I were insane.

"What?" The standing cop asked. He looked as if I were Casper the friendly ghost and I had invited him to tea and crumpets.

"Did I stutter? Or are you too stupid to understand one syllable? Very well, I'll say it really slow. Nnnnoooo."

"Young lady," said the sitting cop. "I suggest –"

"I didn't ask for your suggestions." I said. "We did nothing wrong. Let us go."

"Is that truly how you feel? You'd swear by it?" the standing cop asked, making eye contact with the sitting cop.

"Yep," I said, looking down at my chipped black nails to seem uninterested.

"Alright then," said the sitting cop, rising from his seat. We'll be back in a few minutes."

They left the room, we watched them walk down the hallway from the large window. I ran my fingers over the table.

"You think they're letting us go?" Zana asked.

"_Thalia!" ___Cried Saeva in hushed terms. "You can't say that stuff to him, he's a police officer!"

"So?" I asked. "They're just using the 'good cop, bad cop' routine on us. They really stink at it though."

"Who asked you anyway?" Zana asked Saeva bitterly. Saeva's cheeks turned red. She had a small cut under her left eye from her battle, but that was it. It was sometimes good to be a far-range fighter. Less injuries.

"Why have you been at her throat since you guys picked me up?" I asked, annoyed. Zana glanced quickly at Saeva, then back at me. She slid downwards in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Ask her,"

I looked at Saeva, she changed the subject. "Where did you get that sword, Thalia?"

I looked at her, confused for a moment."Umm…I don't know, it kind of...dropped out of the sky, I guess."

"Was I mistaken, or was it made of gold?" She asked, kiting me along in a conversation, so I wouldn't ask about whatever it is she didn't want me to ask about.

"Yeah, it was," I said, feeling a little betrayed. Why would Saeva tell Zana, but not me? Wasn't I just as much of a friend? And even so, how could she like _Zana _better than me? And if she _did _like Zana better, why were they fighting all the time recently?

Questions, questions, questions.

"But isn't gold, like, the softest metal on the planet?" Asked Zana.

"Not when it's Olympian gold." Saeva said. Her hands began to run smoothly against the underbelly of the table.

"Olympian gold?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said. "It's very rare. It can only be made by Hephaestus or someone with really great forging skills. The only known ingredient is Holy Water from some unknown source. So you could see why – " Her face froze and paled. Her hand stayed perfectly still against the underside of the table. "Don't say another word."

"Why?" Zana asked snidely.

"Microphones. Under. Table." She said through clenched teeth.

Suddenly, I grew scared, scared that the gods' secret would be blown because of us. Thoughts flashed through my head. The thoughts of what would become of us if the secret was blown.

Then, the door opened.

One cop, the one who had been sitting, and the little girl and her mother from the road incident walked in. The girls face lit up.

"That's her! Mommy, look! It's the girl from the accident!" She screamed. Not in terror, but in joy.

"Sophie, please –" Her Mom began.

"Ma'am, please step in the corner of the room. Please don't say a word. We need your daughter's side first." The cop said. The lady nodded and stepped aside.

"Sophie," the cop said sweetly, sitting her on the opposite side of the table from us. "Have you seen these girls before?"

"Only the mean looking one." She said, gesturing at me.

"But not the others?" He asked. He looked confused.

"No," she said. "I think they were in the sky fighting the bird-ladies?" He began taking notes.

"Bird-ladies?" He asked disbelievingly.

"Uh huh. There were lots of them. They would disappear really fast when they hit the ground, but I looked at one before. She had a mean face. Her hair was dark and messed up. She looked kinda' like my Mommy before she has her morning coffee." Her mother didn't seem to thrilled at that comment, but she said nothing.

"And what of that one?" He asked, pointing at me with his pen. She eyed me.

"She's a superhero!" Sophie said enthusiastically. "She fought that boy on the ground, but he disappeared real fast before you guys got me and my mommy."

It hadn't occurred to me that they might've been picked up by the police. I couldn't remember if she and her mom were one of the people who had fled. If so, the police must have caught up to them shortly after they arrested us.

"Are you sure it wasn't one of these girls she was fighting?" The police asked.

"Yes. They were in the sky, remember?" She asked.

"What was she fighting with?" He asked.

"We first, it was an ugly sword, but then, a pretty gold sword dropped from the sky and she fought with that."

"And she was on the ground the whole time?" He asked, not looking up from his notepad.

"No she came from the sky with her pretty magic shoes. Just like a superhero."

"Someone get this kid institutionalized!" I snapped.

"What's that mean?" She asked.

"That," Zana said. "Is where they take all the crazy little Barbie obsessed kindergarteners and give them whippins' for being crazy."

"Quiet." The policeman warned, narrowing his eyes at her.

"You know it's true!" Cried the mother. "All three of you know it good and well!"

"I'd like to hear your side of the story, Mrs. Ritnil."

"Well, most of what my daughter said was true –"

The door swung open. A blond woman in an official looking police uniform stood in the doorway, facing the opposite direction from us. "Who hired you idiots anyway?! GOD!" she screamed.

She eyed the cop. "You, what are you doing here?!" she screamed.

"Interrogating the suspects of the – " he began.

"Nobody asked you to interrogate them you worthless baboon!" she screamed. "Aren't you aware of what's going on in New York right now!?"

"Actually, no Ma'am."

"Get out! Go turn on the news, and figure out what's going on or I'll take your badge and shove it up your nostrils!"

"Yes ma'am." He said, and quickly left the room. I laughed. She turned to me, and walked slowly over to me. She dug in her pocket. Coins and keys jingled. She grabbed a silver key and held it to me.

"This is the key to squad car #657, take it and drive as far as you can until you find out where Kronos is hiding and stop him immediately.

I took the key. "Umm…"

She sighed impatiently and removed her sunglasses. Automatically her body shifted. Her hair changed to an auburn color, and she shrunk a few feet. To about the size of a twelve year old girl.

"Artemis!" Saeva cried. She didn't even look at her, she was so absorbed in getting us out of here.

"Get out, Kronos is taking over New York. Buildings are collapsing, people are dying. You can't save the city, but you have to go for Kronos. Now! Thalia! GO!"


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N I'm really sorry I took so long. My computer was being stupid, but I'll try to make up for it in this chapter. This will be the last chapter, but as I mentioned last chapter…sequel!**

"Cool, this squad car has a laptop!" Zana exclaimed.

"Will you focus?" I asked, sitting in the passenger seat of squad car number 657. Saeva drove down the highway, with the speedometer ticking at about eighty miles per hour, sirens blaring, lights flashing. She made a quick turn onto the interstate. "Saeva, stop at the next rest-stop, I want to see if anyone knows what's going on in New York."

She nodded in recognition. Cars pulled on to the side of the rode to let us through as we drove faster and faster, when finally, a rest stop appeared.

Our car bumped. "What was that?" Asked Zana from the back seat.

"I think we hit something…" Saeva said, curiously looking through her rear-view mirror. Then, another bump, causing Zana to squeal. Three more curious bumps followed, one after another.

And then, the impossible happened.

Our car hoisted its rear into the air; the sound of bending metal filled the air. Zana crashed into the back of my seat.

"Ouch! What's going on?" She yelled.

"I…I don't know," Saeva said, removing her hands from the wheel to show she wasn't responsible. Then, my side lifted into the air, along with Saeva's almost immediately after.

Our car plunged through the air, sirens wailing, lights flashing. I turned off the siren.

"What's going on?" Zana repeated, blood was dripping down her chin that led from her nose that she hit on the back of my seat.

"I think the car is… flying." I said, looking out the window. Sure enough, we flew at the altitude a plane would, soaring over what seemed to be endless green.

"_What!? _We can't be flying! That's sooo _Harry Potter!"_ Zana cried.

"Maybe _he _can tell us how to stop it!" cried Saeva. But I doubted it. Not even he could save us now.

"I think I know where we're going." I announced, staring out the window, and into a flock of birds that flew a few paces away.

"Where?" Zana asked.

"New York." I told her.

"What? How do you know that?" Asked Zana, her hair stuck to the thin stream of blood on her face.

I pointed out the window, where tall skyscrapers of New York shown somewhat proudly.

"That's…That's impossible. We were just in California!" Saeva protested.

"Saeva!" Zana shouted. "We are in a flying police car! I think the impossible ship has sailed!"

New York was as bad off as Artemis had said. As I watched, a tall hotel collapsed. The sky was pitch black and lightning stung the surface of New York more than an occasional basis.

And what scared me the most; Titans and monsters and enemy half-bloods were causing all this damage.

"This is terrible." Saeva announced.

"You think?" Zana asked sarcastically.

Helicopters and planes circled New York City, trying to lower soldiers to defend their country.

Then, our flying escort stopped.

It lowered itself slowly until it was about a hundred feet off the ground, and then it dropped.

My life once again flashed before my eyes as we plummeted downward to our deaths. I had completely forgotten of my fear of heights until we were falling.

The car hit the ground.

A loud noise of the metal colliding suddenly against the ground, combined with the smashing of tires. The windshield caved in, along with every other window on the car, showering all three of us in glass. Pain made its way into my body, every where there were cuts or tiny shards of glass in my skin.

But I was alive…

I made it out alive!

But that also meant, that I was being protected my something… something powerful, which may, or may not be a good thing.

"Everyone okay?" I asked, shaking the excess glass off my arms.

"Yeah," said Zana from behind me, followed by an:

"Okay here," From Saeva beside me.

"We need to get out of this death trap." I said, attempting to open my door. It was being stubborn, so I pushed with more force, and suddenly, it cracked open, but it took even more force to widen it enough for me to get out. But eventually, it creaked open reluctantly, making a metal-against-metal that no one likes.

We all three eventually got out, however Saeva's door wouldn't budge at all, so she had to crawl across broken glass and out my door.

"Now, what we need to do-" Saeva started, but was interrupted my yours truly.

"Don't you think it's odd," I began. "That the car dropped us in this exact spot?"

"A little, but then again, I think it's odd that a car could fly either way." Zana said, being her usual sarcastic self.

"But-" Saeva was once again interrupted.

"Thalia!" someone called from behind me.

And on that day, in New York City, was the day the prophecy that dictated the reign of the gods came true.

Percy, Nico di Angelo, and Chiron – weapons in hand – approached us.

"Guys!" I cried excitedly, "what are you doing here?"

"Trying to save the world," Nico said. They all had their share of wounds, but Nico's seemed to be the worst. His whole face was covered in splotches of wet and dry blood. His pant leg was torn nearly in half and his leg had a large scar down it.

"Any luck?" Zana asked, again, sarcastically. Monsters around us ran around the city, terrorizing civilians and destroying buildings. People ran, screaming, begging for help, but none survived.

"We have bigger problems that need our urgent attention." Chiron began. A void opened out of nowhere behind him. We were all forced to our knees on the street, even Chiron was kneeling. The monsters around us settled, and the titans gathered together. We were unable to move, or to even blink.

Out of the void appeared Kronos, in Luke's body, and beside him appeared a boy, about age sixteen, black hair and in head-to-toe Greek battle armor.

_Troy._

The monsters and Titans gathered behind them, showing respect to Kronos and Troy.

"_Brother's and sisters," _Kronos began, yelling loud enough for everyone to hear him. _"Today is a historical event we all have been waiting for for thousands of years. The day the gods fall, and we reclaim Olympus as our own!"_

The crowd behind him cheered. We kneeled, as that was all we could do.

"_And here they are," _As I watched, the Twelve Olympians appeared in front of me, all kneeling as we were, some with injuries. "_Now, I Kronos, command you, the followers of the Titans, to tear these good for nothing gods limb from limb!" _

The crowd cheered once more, and they all charged at the Olympians, who now were able to rise and defend themselves, but they were much to outnumbered. Within a time span of minutes, the crowd cleared and went back to their places behind Kronos, all twelve Olympians lifeless bodies lay, bruised and bloody, across the streets of New York.Ancient bodies, alive since the creation of earth, dead.

Kronos laughed. _"Now, to make it official. You all know of the prophecy, but a great bulk of you know little of the details. It states that a child of the 'Big Three', at the age of sixteen, will decide the fate of the gods. Well, at the age of sixteen, my grandson is ready to make the decision in the name of the Titans!"_

Troy stepped forward. He looked at his followers, and then turned around to look at the lifeless body of a dozen Deities.

Finally, he looked at me. Not us, _me. _

He approached me, drew his sword, and mumbled a few words.

"This is for you, Thalia."

And my world went black.

**A/N I know, a horrible way to end a story, and not my best chapter, either, but the first chapter in the sequel will be good, I hope. **

**A few things, though. **

**What I can tell you is that Thalia, is indeed, dead. And the Titans have taken over. **

**I'm also changing the title. I told you it would be called The Heroes of the Redemption Flame, but I'm changing it to Heroes of the Olympian Flame, for reasons I will reveal later. **

**Please don't not read the sequel because of the horrible ending, or that fact it's a terrible chapter. I'm going to have more words and more interesting chapters from now on. **

**Look for the sequel!**


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